Neighbor Saves Mother and Daughter After Violent Home Invasion in Northeast Philadelphia
At 1 a.m. on Griffith Street, Evelyn Leiva and her 14-year-old daughter Valentina were jolted awake by a stranger in their home. What happened next is about survival, community, and a neighbor named Dan.
What Happened on Griffith Street
Just after 1 a.m. on Monday, May 18, Evelyn Leiva was asleep in her second-floor apartment in Philadelphia’s Rhawnhurst neighborhood. She heard a loud bang. Her first thought was that her cats knocked something over.
It wasn’t the cats.
A man believed to be in his 40s had forced open her front door and walked straight into her 14-year-old daughter Valentina’s bedroom, holding what appeared to be a metal pipe…