BATON ROUGE – A 12-year-old sneakily escaped his home as intruders burst through the front door recently, looking for valuables.

Surveillance video showed the group smash through the door and steal a TV. Days later, the homeowner said, they came back for seconds.

The initial smash-and-grab happened earlier in the month when the boy heard a knock at the front door, realized crooks were trying to barge in and ran out the backdoor as they made their entry. Then, this week, the homeowner said the crooks came back – this time, trying to get in through the back door. But, the alarm system scared them away.

In the first heist, they got away with an expensive, curved TV.

In an interview with WBRZ Tuesday, the family said the child quietly got out of the house through the back door as the crooks got to work on stealing the television. They did not realize anyone was home.

Police released video of the burglary Tuesday and the family gave WBRZ permission to show the entire clip, which shows just how close the child came to being face-to-face with the intruders.

The video captures the three men kicking down the door of the home on East Pomona Drive. In the video, the men can be seen making a beeline for the television. In a matter of 30 seconds, the men grab the TV and rush back out the front door as an alarm sounds in the background.

Anyone with information regarding this crime is urged to contact the Burglary/Felony Theft Division at (225) 389-3824.

Hear from the child on later editions of WBRZ News 2 at 5:00, 6:00 and 10:00.