UPDATE: Police have released a sketch, posted at right, of one of two men who attempted to burglarize a Crescent Park neighborhood home on May 19. This man is the one who remained by the front door and was wearing orange shorts and a gray T-shirt.
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Two men who police say kicked down a door of a Crescent Park home Thursday afternoon in an apparent burglary attempt fled the scene empty-handed after a resident startled them.
Police said the attempted burglary occurred shortly before 6 p.m. Thursday on the 1300 block of Dana Avenue. The resident, a woman in her 60s, reported that she had been home alone when she heard a crashing sound from inside her house. When she went to see what happened, she reportedly saw that her door had been kicked in and that a man she didn't know was standing inside.
Police said that she yelled at the man and startled him. At that point, a second man allegedly came running down the stairs from the second floor. Both then ran out the front door and reportedly proceeded east on Dana Avenue, police said.
The woman called the police and officers arrived at the scene immediately but could not locate the suspects, police said. The two men did not have time to steal any of the victim's property.
The woman said the two men were in their 20s or 30s, with dark skin (she said they were possibly Polynesian). She described one as wearing orange shorts and a gray T-shirt; the other wore dark shorts or pants and a top "with a stripe or other marking." Both were nearly six feet tall and about 250 pounds.
Police said there haven't been any similar incidents in Palo Alto recently. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Police Department at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be emailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to 650-383-8984.
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