A mother from California made headlines when she bravely chased after two robbers who had just left her house after breaking in. In an extraordinary show of courage, she even smashed the back window of their getaway car with her bare hands while ensuring her young son and her handgun were safe.
Chiara Ortiz had just finished lunch with her children when she spotted one of the burglars at her apartment in Torrance, located in southwest Los Angeles. “As soon as we got out of the car, my son asked, ‘Who is it?’ And I looked over to see someone by his piggy bank,” Ortiz recounted.
Once the burglar realized he had been seen, he took off running, but Ortiz didn’t hesitate. She pursued the two intruders and recorded their escape on her phone as they dashed toward a dark green BMW.
Ortiz, a personal fitness trainer, managed to get close enough to the car before she acted. Seeing the suspect reach for something, she instinctively backed away before hitting the rear window with her fists.
“I just reacted. I saw him reach for something and I thought, ‘I need to do something,'” she explained.
Following Ortiz’s attempt to break the window, the thief sped away.
When she returned to her apartment to assess the damage, Ortiz discovered that it had been thoroughly ransacked. The burglars had taken her jewelry, around $100 in cash, and her son’s piggy bank. They also managed to open a lockbox in her bedroom where her handgun was stored.
The experience left Ortiz feeling deeply unsettled. “I feel very violated and very angry,” she expressed.
During the chase, Ortiz’s son managed to snap a picture of the BMW’s license plate, but after sharing it with the police, they determined it belonged to a different, stolen vehicle.
Despite the unsettling ordeal, Ortiz felt relieved that her family was unharmed and that she happened to be out of the house at the time of the break-in. “It could have been so much worse,” she said.
The Torrance Police Department is currently investigating the robbery. “This type of crime is concerning, and we are committed to keeping the community safe,” they stated. They urged residents to stay alert and report any suspicious activities to the police.
A Crime Analysis Report from the Torrance Police Department indicated that there were 86 reported home burglaries in the coastal city in 2025.
