Terrified Arizona residents are rushing to build panic rooms after the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie, who has still not been found nearly a month after she was abducted from her Tucson home.Kevin Hand, a specialist in break-resistant “safe rooms” at Sportsman Steel Safes in the Grand Canyon State, told the Daily Mail that his business is full of calls to quickly install thick steel doors and secret hiding rooms in people’s homes.
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“There has been a huge uptick in calls and business since the Guthrie case,” Hand told the newspaper, noting that many people fear they will be taken from their families, never to be seen again, the New York Post reported.
“There has been a huge uptick in calls and business since the Guthrie case,” said Kevin Hand, a specialist in break-resistant “safe rooms” at Sportsman Steel Safes.Sportsman Steel Safes has installed heavy-duty doors and safe rooms for wealthy clients in Texas and California for decades, but middle-class families in Arizona have now emerged as his newest clients, with consultations already booked out for weeks, he said.
The kidnapping of Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” star Savannah Guthrie, “made people think: ‘What would we do if someone broke into the house tonight?'” Hand said.“People don’t want this to happen to them or their families, and they realize that maybe it could happen,” he added.Hand, whose clients include government officials, said Arizona residents are choosing to demolish their homes and retrofit rooms with 800- to 1,000-pound steel doors, often hidden in plain sight, such as inside a walk-in closet.“We make it look like a regular door. It looks normal; no one would know it’s a panic room from the outside,” he said.But behind the doors, locked with a keypad, is a room lined with thick concrete walls, reinforced with fireproof and bulletproof materials, making it “impossible” for intruders to enter. It is also possible to use the rooms to secure valuables and firearms.“If you’re a relatively high-profile person, there are simple precautions you can take to make your home hijack-proof, and now everyone wants the same thing,” Hand said.Panic room builder Steve Humble, who owns Creative Home Engineering in Arizona, told The Mail that his secret doors cost $1,000, with reinforced panels costing up to $8,500.The process, from measurements to final installation, takes about 90 days, Humble said.“It’s a small price to pay to save your family’s life during an armed attack,” he said.Nancy Guthrie is believed to have been kidnapped from her home during the early morning hours of February 1. Despite an extensive investigation assisted by the FBI, Guthrie remains missing, and no suspects have been identified nearly a month after her kidnapping.
