HOUSTON – Police are checking into an alarm glitch at a northwest Houston business. Every night for the past week, Maria Aguirre said sirens and strobe lights are coming from the Family Dollar on Bingle Road. She said the disruption is keeping the neighborhood awake.
“We’ve been tortured for a week,” Aguirre said. “We’ve tried pillows and noise-canceling headphones and you can still hear it.”
According to Aguirre, the ear-piercing alarm starts anywhere from 9 p.m. to midnight and continues blaring every hour for 20 minutes until 6 a.m.
“And even when it stops, it’s been so loud it still rings in your head,” she said.
KPRC 2 reached out to the Family Dollar store and its corporate office and we have not heard back.
Aguirre said she has done the same. She said every time she talks to someone, she gets a different answer.
“On Monday, it was a theft alarm,” said Aguirre. “By Wednesday, it was a fire alarm. By Friday, they’re not sure, maybe it’s an electrical problem. The story has changed every day.”
Aguirre said she has also contacted city hall, the Harris County Attorney’s Office and Houston police.
“They got a citation two or three times, the police told us [it was] $300, and they were like for a corporation this big, $300 is not a concern,” said Aguirre.
Aguirre said the incessant alarm and the strobe lights beaming through her bedroom window is taking a toll mentally. She said she and her husband said they have been forced to spend the last few nights at her sister’s house.
“We just want it to stop,” she said. “We literally just want it to stop. We want to be in peace in our neighborhood.”