Charges: Car keys left at break-in scene used to find burglar
A man who allegedly broke into a Mankato home was tracked down after he apparently left his key fob at the scene of the crime.
Oumr Sheick Traore, 20, of Mankato was charged Tuesday in Blue Earth County Court with felony 1st-degree burglary with an assault. He also faces a misdemeanor 5th-degree assault charge.
A criminal complaint says Traore broke into a home on N Broad St on the night of March 4.
A woman at the home told police she encountered Traore, whom she didn’t recognize, in the upstairs hallway and attempted to shut herself inside a bedroom, but Traore forced his way into the room and shoved the woman.
The complaint says Traore was shining a flashlight around the room and repeatedly shouting for everyone to “get up.”
Court documents say Traore suddenly appeared scared, then fled downstairs, where the woman’s husband began striking him with a canoe paddle. Traore left through the back door, according to the complaint.
Officers found a jacket with a vehicle key fob in the pocket hanging on the back door railing just outside the home. When police pressed the fob’s panic button, the horn on a vehicle parked several houses away began honking. Police say the vehicle is owned by Traore.
Traore was located nearby, and transported to the Blue Earth County Jail. He allegedly admitted to entering the home and told investigators he believed that the people inside were in trouble or being held hostage. The complaint says he realized he was in the wrong place when he encountered the woman.
