Caught on camera: Attempted home invasion in Mesa going viral on TikTok

MESA, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) - Security video showing a group of masked men causing a disturbance outside a Mesa home Saturday morning has reached over a million views on TikTok. The homeowner, John Duhigg, said he has nine cameras surrounding his home for this very reason. “I get comments about it all the time, but I’m a retired violent crimes detective, and I’m not going to be a victim of anything,” said Duhigg.

He’s protecting what he loves most: his children. “I have two special needs. My daughter has Cerebral Palsy. She’s 18, nonverbal. She can call for help if she needed to. And my son has Autism. He has very High-Functioning Autism, so he can interact with you for a while before he realizes that he’s a little bit different,” said Duhigg. “I need to make sure that they’re extra safe because they can’t really help themselves.”

He explained that his 20-year-old son had been bullied online by a group of people. His son then gave them their address, thinking they were his friends, even though Duhigg had told him not to share where they live. “They were getting really bad because he has Autism and he’s a Latino, so they were picking on him horribly. And earlier that day, they had told him ‘We’re gonna come to your house’,” said Duhigg.

Duhigg said his cameras captured the group on his property three different times that morning. The first time was just before 1 a.m., where the men could be seen arriving in a vehicle on the street next to Duhigg’s home. Four of them ran out, while one other remained in the vehicle. Duhigg said they had thrown a shake at his truck.

The second time was around 3:04 a.m. That’s when Duhigg’s Ring camera alerted him of the motion outside his home. He said one of the individuals was trying to cover the camera. Later, they begin to bang on his garage and front steel doors. Duhigg said this was when he walked out with his shotgun, and the group ran away. He is unsure if they saw him with the gun or if it was a coincidence that they ran away. “They were risking their lives doing this,” said Duhigg.

Duhigg believes one of the suspects had a pistol due to a sound he heard, but it’s hard to make out in the video. He called the police soon after. While watching the surveillance video back, he sees the group returned around 3:15 a.m. He said they trashed the outside of his home and left right before the officers showed up.

“So I’m like, ‘This is really getting old.’ Nobody comes back for home invasions. That’s stupid. You just warned everybody. But there’s no accounting for stupidity,” he said.

The Mesa Police Department is investigating this case. Duhigg plans to press charges and wants the people involved to turn themselves in.

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