[nndl] attempted break-in on Avenue F

oh my;  I was sitting in my living room at about 8:20pm tonight when someone turned the handle on our back door, attempting to walk into the house-  it took a second to register; just seemed surreal, I suppose, before it dawned on me that indeed someone had attempted to open the door-  thank goodness I always lock it when I walk in!   I bolted out of the house in time to see a man walking thru our side gate  (faces 54th St.)  and when I began yelling at him that I was calling the police, he said he was  "just trying to see if he could help" -  he backed away towards the street and I grabbed/latched the gate, acted like I was yelling for my husband, then called the police and gave them the description-  white male, mid to late 30s, wearing jeans & an outer shirt over a t-shirt, had a backpack on and shaved/close cropped hair, some stubble on the face-  not one of the
folks we usually see strolling by- the police (who were wonderful, by the way) said they would send extra patrols around tonight & keep looking for him-   I went to all the neighbors around me & alerted them and found a lock for the side gate   couldn't tell if he was drunk but it's hard to imagine anyone thinking it's ok to walk thru a closed gate, onto a covered porch and attempt to enter a house by the back door-    kate