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Las Vegas family watches home being burglarized while on vacation

Posted at 9:33 PM, Apr 16, 2018
and last updated 2018-04-17 08:57:12-04

A Las Vegas family watched in horror from a Florida hotel room as their home was broken into Friday.

From 2,000 miles away, Kenneth Kochman woke up to a heart-stopping notification on his phone.

"We got our Ring camera system up and we actually saw these guys burglarize our home live," says Kochman.

From their hotel room in Orlando, Kenneth and his fiancée Melinda Piccirilli watched in disbelief as two men walked around the backyard of their home.

The video clearly shows one of the burglars using a rod to knock down the surveillance camera just before breaking in.

The family was concerned that the crooks were inside and may have harmed their three Chihuahuas.

"I knew they were trapped in a little area so if they wanted to get them or take them, or [possibly] get mad at them, take them or hurt them; you don't know what people are going to do," Piccirilli said.

The two got back to Las Vegas on Sunday – thankful to find their dogs unharmed. Melinda immediately jumped on social media to spread the word of what happened.

Her Facebook post quickly went viral in her Las Vegas community.

"Last night it was 40,000 views and just a few minutes ago it was 65,000 views," says Piccirilli.

Melinda said the response online from folks in Summerlin, a subsection of Las Vegas, truly shows how a community can come together.

"The community is all here with us and wants to help us find who these people were," says Piccirilli. "[There are] Hundreds and hundreds of strangers, hundreds of shares and people tagging people asking how they can help."

Las Vegas police are currently investigating the burglary.