Robbery prompts Havre mother to reconsider camping

A Havre mother said she will change her camping routine and take more precautions after two men reportedly wreaked havoc at the Beaver Creek Park campsite where her family was camping.

Nakkita Taylor was in Las Vegas for a wedding, she said, when she got news that her four children, her mother and her mother’s boyfriend had survived a scary night in which one of the suspects pointed a gun in her mother’s face and the other punched her mother’s boyfriend after he charged the man with the gun.

The Hill County Sheriff’s Office issued a press release Friday regarding the incident, which was reported at 3:10 Thursday morning. The reporting party in the release is Taylor’s mother.

The press release says: “During the early morning hours of July 7th, 2016 a citizen called 911 to report she was awoken by two intruders who had entered her camper while she was camped near Railroad Pager’s campground in Beaver Creek Park. A short struggle ensued between the reporting party’s boyfriend and one of the intruders. During the struggle the reporting party advised she observed one of the intruders had a handgun and had pointed it at her.”

The press release also says that the intruders were described as two white men and that the investigation is ongoing. The sheriff’s office advises campers to lock camper and vehicle doors when away from the site and when turning in for the night.

Hill County Sheriff Don Brostrom said this morning that the incident is still under investigation and he could not release any more information.

Taylor said the suspects stole a flashlight, tablet and a bag containing four inhalers and bottles of the allergy medicine Singulair. Those items were in the van her 8- and 6-year-olds were sleeping in, the first vehicle the intruders entered. Taylor said both vehicles in which her family was sleeping were unlocked.

She said the suspects then awoke her mother, who was in the camper with the other two children and her boyfriend, pointed a flashlight and a gun in her face, and told her to get on the ground. Taylor said her mother then said, “Please don’t. There’s babies in here” — the 10 and 3-year-olds were in the camper — and that’s when her mother’s boyfriend charged at the man with the gun, pushing him out of the camper. The other suspect, who was waiting outside, then punched the charging man and the two suspects took off, she said.

Taylor said, although her mother was blinded by the flashlight and couldn’t see the intruder’s face, her mother’s boyfriend got a good look at the suspects and knows who they are.

In an interview Sunday, Taylor said her children are doing well and hardly remember the incident, as they were in a sleeping stupor. But the incident has compelled her to start being more cautious.

“I’m definitely glad I own a weapon,” she said about a pistol she owns, which she said she won’t go camping without.

Although she wasn’t there for this camping trip, Taylor said she camps with her children frequently and will probably hold off any more camping trips in the Bear Paws, at least for this year. She said she’ll probably stick to camping at Fresno, and she’ll be watching her children a little closer and locking the camper doors.

She said she couldn’t shake the thought that no one knew what was going on until someone broke into the second vehicle.

The event has taught her not to discount anything.

“Be (cautious.) Anything can happen,” she said. “You think it’s a small town and you’re safe.”