Second Palo Alto prowler incident investigated

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Police in Palo Alto are investigating a second report of a prowler, this time at residence where a woman reported seeing someone standing outside her bedroom window early Tuesday morning.

The victim, a woman in her 30s, told police she was sleeping just after 1 a.m. Tuesday when she woke to her neighbor's dog barking outside.

She told police she heard a soft sound at one of her bedroom windows and thought she may have seen the silhouette of a person standing outside.

About 30 seconds later, she heard what sounded like banging on the screen of another bedroom window, so she got out of bed, went to the window, opened the blinds and saw a face just outside the window looking at her, police said.

She described the suspect as a white man.

The incident occurred at a residence in the 200 block of Emerson Street.

"Certainly walking to my car at night, I will be more careful and no late laundry loads. I think it's beyond scary. I always felt safe living here, it's unfortunate to hear," said Kiirsta Ridgeway, a neighbor, after learning of the incident.

A similar incident occurred on July 8 when a 14-year-old girl reported a prowler in her back yard around 11:23 p.m. That incident occurred about two miles away from Tuesday's incident at a residence in the 1000 block of Moffett Circle, police said.

The victim in that incident described the suspect as a light-skinned man with dark hair, about 6 feet tall, with a skinny build and wearing dark clothing, police said.

Police are investigating whether the two incidents are related.

Anyone with information on either incident is asked to call the Palo Alto police dispatch center at (650) 329-2413.

ABC7 News Reporter Janet O contributed to this story.