Illinois Family Terrorized By Raccoon

The scratching on the ceiling started in June, and on Sunday morning the unthinkable happened.

"It broke through the ceiling and fell on the bed of my son," said Maria Gomez, explaining how a raccoon landed in bed with her 9-year-old son, Enrique.

"He kicked it and then woke up his brother. They were both screaming they were so scared," she said, referring to his younger brother, Jonathan, 5.

"My dad almost touched the raccoon," said Enrique, after he came into the room to see what all the screaming was about. After getting the two boys out they closed the door and called police, who called animal control.

That was when the real destruction took place. Besides the one-foot-by-one-foot hole in the ceiling, the raccoon tried to get out the window and destroyed the window blinds and chewed almost all of the wood on the window frame trying to get out. One wall showed traces of blood where the animal tried to claw its way through the drywall to escape from the room.

"The animal control woman said we had to throw all this stuff out," said Gomez, because of the blood and feces everywhere in the room.

Her daughter, Karla, 12, said the raccoon was so strong it moved the cage that the animal control officer placed it in. The raccoon also rattled the window frame, cracking the glass, before it was caught.

"You could hear the racket (in the room) as it was destroying stuff," she said.

Lake County Illinois Animal Control said the raccoon was fierce, but it was healthy and was released back into the wild. Under state law, only skunks have to be euthanized when caught.

Gomez is not happy with landlord Norman Hayes about the house at 37227 N. Hillside Drive because she told him about the raccoon in the attic in June.

"He didn't believe me. He said, 'Oh come on, Maria. A raccoon?'" she said.

They had told Hayes there were two holes, an entrance and an exit.

He was unavailable for comment.

So now the family is moving to Water's Edge apartments in Lake Villa. The kids are excited.

"My brother said he wants my mom to give him the keys now so he can move in," Karla said.

Repairmen showed up on Monday and Tuesday to clean, disinfect and patch the holes in the bedroom.

"He (Hayes) didn't say sorry or anything," said Gomez. She figures with the new clothes she had to buy for her boys and the new deposit for a new home, the move will cost her hundreds of dollars, but it's worth it.

"We're moving out. We can't keep living like that," she said.