CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Neighbors are banding together with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police to try to stop squatters from taking over a home in Myers Park.
There was no answer at the home located on Tranquil Avenue.
Through a window in the door, two chairs could be seen in the otherwise empty living room.
The home is a rental and there is a lockbox on the door handle, usually put there by a real estate agent.
However, neighbors like Catherine Cole who lives next door, say the people who have gotten inside, have their own key.
Said Cole, “They walk in brazenly with a key, unlock the door and walk in.”
A CMPD police report filed last Saturday said “…it also appeared the suspects had been living in the house.”
Back in the summer of 2015, police arrested a woman named Ninti el Bay, who along with a group of friends and associates moved into an empty $800,000 home that was in foreclosure in Charlotte’s Piper Glenn neighborhood.
She was eventually arrested and convicted of trespassing.
It is not known if the squatters trying to get into the house on Tranquil Ave are Moorish Nation members.
Neighbor Catherine Cole said, “I wonder what kind of network they have to know there is a house and if you need to spend the night, come on in.”
Neighbors are working together to fight back.
One parked their own car in the driveway to discourage anyone from coming back.
A woman who did not want to be identified said, "It’s a little concerning, however, the neighbors have really banded together and we are being very vigilant.”
Police have been called twice to the house but both times whoever was inside had left.