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Today, we got a chance to speak with Hipolito Castillo and Marlene Rufenucht (Roof-en-nut) today about the incident:

Hipolito Castillo
"I was sick and I ask her to come and stay because I was upset in my stomach and the she said that she saw somebody walking to the garage and then afterwards the dogs were barking and then all of a sudden a door came down. They broke down the door with cement blocks."

Marlene Rufenucht
"At around 12:30 the dogs start barking. Then I got up. What happen is that he doesn't like his house in darkness. He wanted to have a light or two in there in the kitchen and the middle part where the bathroom is. The glare in the light from dark to clear, you could see movements around inside the house. The problem with me that night when I open the window and I peep through the window, a guy ran from behind the garage straight to the stairs and went up, and he came back down and all this while I am looking at him. I have a dog named Diamond that I let out in the night, his dogs are always tied up. They were young little boys, but there was a man with them about your size and height - because the back door was by one foot-kick and that door was opened. The big man pick up the block and he was going to burst the door open for the little ones to get in. So, they came in and they attack me first. I had a machete in my hand. Why?.. Is because they hit out the bottom part of the door, so I thought they were coming inside the hole. I stand behind the door and I had the machete up ready to... somebody outside mentioned saying that she had a machete in her hand. In the glare of the light, they could see me inside what I am doing and that was the mistake that I made in there - I was going to take off all the lights. But at that time, because it was so sudden, I went and wake him up. I said Polo, they came to attack us. Then he heard the first bang and so he got up. Then he gave me the machete and I walk to the door, prepare myself without any fright, just prepare to start to work - they got in and that is where they hit me. You see where they hit me here? I went to the doctor. In the temple part here, for me when I opened my mouth, I have a terrible pain here. The doctor says that nothing is wrong, it's just from the hit with a stick. But if I got a harder hit, it could have been more problems."

Daniel Ortiz
"Has this ever happened to you before or ever happened on your property before, that people try to assault tenants or assault your or your family or try to rob you or burglarize your area?"

Hipolito Castillo
"Yes, this is the second time. The first one, I went into the sheep pen 5:30 to 6:30 one morning and when I lose the door I heard click click and I make a turn and then men were there with guns in their hand."

While the men - who police described to us as boys - were ransacking the house, they heard a loud noise outside which scared them off. They all fled without stealing anything, and police arrived shortly after that. We heard that the loud noise was a firecracker, or dynamite. The two senior citizens say that there was another recent incident where one of their neighbours encountered men who tried to get into their house while impersonating police. Again, they fled before accomplishing what they set out to do.