Residents of the Jefferson Commons apartments are concerned for their safety after a home invasion last week.

One woman was home and managed to lock herself in the bathroom as a man with a small-caliber handgun broke into her apartment in building 12 at 9 a.m. March 2, police said.

The woman text-messaged her roommate, who called police from work, before she too called police.

The man left without taking anything and was not caught.

Building 12 is one of several located along 65th Street, where there are fences between the buildings but not around them.

There are openings in between the staircases and the walls of the buildings that allow unrestricted access to all of the buildings in the complex.

“If it’s accessible, people are going to go there,” said Michelle Lazark, public information officer for the Sacramento City Police Department.

“I don’t think it’s right that they have a fence around the rest of the place but not here,” said Jose Villalobos, a resident in building 12 and a Sacramento State junior majoring in music performance.

He said homeless people often come up to him and his roommates when they are on their porch, just feet away from 65th Street, and ask them for money.- Once, a man came up and tried to start a fight with them.

Villalobos would like to see a fence built to fully enclose the area.

Such a fence was actually in the original plans for the apartments, but the city of Sacramento required the plans to be changed for aesthetic reasons, said Janine Hunter, director of community operations for Jefferson Commons.

Currently, Jefferson Commons is working with the city to get a fence built.

Ben Rayray, Jefferson Commons resident and Sac State junior majoring in business accounting, said it is pointless to have guards at the front gate but not at the open areas.

Currently, guards patrol the premises, but are only posted at the front gate.- Guards are only on station from around 9 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. and were not on the premises during last week’s home invasion.

Hunter said that no security changes have been made since the home invasion. Lindsey Buckner, a Jefferson Commons resident and Sac State junior majoring in environmental studies, said the guards are not very responsive.

Lazark described the security as the eyes and ears for the city police for Jefferson Commons and said they have been working together for the security of the complex.

Hunter said that they have four security officers, which she believes is about twice as many as most other complexes.

Residents can call officers to escort them to and from their vehicles at night free of charge. Another amenity offered is an intrusion alarm in each unit.- The alarms are not connected to any monitoring service, but residents can pay for it on their own if they wish.

“Their safety is their responsibility,” Hunter said. “I’m sure security is pretty comparable,” said Robin Kusch, community director for The Villas at La Riviera, another apartment complex that has a predominantly student population.

The Villas complex does not have a fence at all and there are no plans to build one.

Lazark said the area that Jefferson Commons is in is not a bad part of town.

Since Jan. 1, police have responded to about 37 calls for service at Jefferson Commons.-

Lazark said a large portion of these calls were for noise disturbances and parties.- The home invasion last week has been the most violent crime reported, and the shooting last week at the AM/PM mini-mart is totally isolated, Lazark said.

She said the number of calls is not too many considering the size of the apartments and the fact that most residents are college students.

Brandon Darnell can be reached at [email protected]