A Brooklyn woman says her sense of safety was shattered after a person broke into her apartment while she was home.

It was supposed to be a normal Monday night for Victoria Minervino, as she finished a work meeting on her couch.

But once she got up to head out to the bodega next door, she found an unexpected visitor.

“I closed my computer and I came in the kitchen, and she was already in my kitchen,” said Minervino. “Like, fully in my kitchen. I didn't even hear the door open."

Minervino says a woman was in her apartment, searching through her purse – quietly getting past the front door of the building and then inside her apartment.

“I just screamed and told her to ‘get the **** out of my house’. She bolted down the stairs. I can still hear my screams in my ears," she says.

Tenants in the building say their front door has been flimsy for nearly eight years. It was not until this incident that something was finally done about it by the property managers.

“They tend to ignore a lot of what happens down here,” said Minervino. “Which really sucks, they never come over here, and they never check out what's going on.”

Since the incident, businesses nearby have stepped in to help police find the person who broke in.

Minervino says she is believed to be experiencing homelessness – and is known around the area.

Minervino add that she has lent her a helping hand before.

“We all help out with anybody who is homeless in the area,” said Minervino. “Because you never know what somebody's situation is, but also you can't be overly assumptive that it's a safe person and that it's a safe situation, even if they're really nice. It does suck that the only option was to call the police and now have to have this woman arrested.”

As she now sleeps with one eye open and tools for protecting herself in hand, she’s also preparing to move out.

She is also warning her neighbors without that option to be extra careful.