LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Some University of Kentucky students who live near campus are on edge following a series of strange incidents that involve a person wearing a mask who tries to break into apartments where female students live.
In at least one case a few weeks ago, the person was able to get into an apartment, according to a student who asked they not be named. Security footage taken from the next-door apartment shows a person walking away wearing a mask.
Last week, the person was caught on camera trying to open the door of a different house around 11:30 at night. After unsuccessfully doing so, they put their face right up next to the camera. It’s a scene that feels straight out of a Halloween horror film.
Kasey Hill watched it happen live on her doorbell camera. She called her roommates together and they hid in a single room while calling police.
“I thought he was coming in, ready to kill us,” Hill said. “We’ve all been on edge.”
Both homes are in the general vicinity of University Ave.
Videos like the one Hill shared with LEX 18 have popped up across social media, and it’s not exactly clear exactly how many homes the person attempted to break into.
Hill said they have dubbed the person the “mask man.”
“I’ve had multiple friends text me and be like, ‘I just saw the ‘mask [man],'” Hill said.
Hill said a man in a mask chased one of her friends while she was walking on campus near the library. It’s not clear if it is the same person who attempted to break into homes, if they are all the same person.
UK Police have not responded to a request for comment about that incident.
Off campus, Lexington police say they responded on October 29 to a report of a person looking through their window. It’s not immediately clear if that person was wearing a mask.
We did ask them for more information about the other reports they have received, and how many they are investigating and we have not heard back.
The sheer amount of incidents has left Hill’s roommate, Ellie Franze, concerned.
“I don't take it lightly. I don't think it's funny,” Franze said. “Knowing that someone’s house has actually been broken into at night and hearing little things about looking in windows and supposedly chasing people. It’s just - there's too many incidents in too close a proximity, too close together time-wise wise for it to not be linked up in some type of way
