JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) – A family in Juneau is left with two damaged vehicles after a bear came to their property Sunday.
Briana Williams said she found out there was a bear on her property when she got a notification from her Ring camera at around 2:30 a.m. that there was a bear going through her yard. When she went outside, the bear was out of the yard, but she saw a shadow in her Chevy Silverado.
“When I walked down the steps to the end of the driveway, I could hear him tearing apart, pulling on the interior of the truck, and when I got a closer look, I could see him inside the vehicle,” she said. “I didn’t even notice the knocked-out window of my Bronco.”
Williams contacted the Juneau Police to let them know there was a bear in the vehicle. While she waited, the bear was thrashing around the vehicle and tearing it up.
After police arrived, they unlocked the door and were able to get a better look at the bear.
“He was huge. You could see him just breathing his breath in the air. He was taller than the truck itself at that point,” Williams recounts. “He did stare at them for a minute, and then they were able to shoo him away, and he took off down the other way.”
Unfortunately, Williams said their Chevy Silverado was deemed undrivable by the police. The interior is now completely shredded, and the Bronco’s rear driver window is also completely busted.
As for why the bear entered the Silverado in the first place, Williams said she isn’t sure.
“The only thing that was in there was empty coffee mugs,” she said. “When speaking with Fish & Game today, he let me know he thinks that may be a reason why they entered the truck, cause there was not any other food remnants in there.
“In the Bronco, I have a 2-year-old, so there were some crumbs … but that was about it, and he didn’t do much damage to our Ford Bronco, thankfully.”
Williams said the bear’s actions are going to leave a big impact on her family, as her husband and her sister-in-law both use the Silverado, with her husband using it for work daily.
And unfortunately, Williams’s insurance is not going to cover any of the damage to the Silverado. They thought they had comprehensive insurance for both their vehicles, but it was only for the Bronco.
“That’s a financial strain that’s going to cause issues for work. Finding the ability to make it to work, with my husband being in construction, he has multiple areas he has to go, different job sites he has to work at, and that kind of doesn’t enable him to be able to do his job efficiently because he can’t make it to those job sites,” she said.
2026 has been a bad year for Williams’s family in terms of bear encounters already. On Sept. 29, another bear came down their street and tore off one of their car door handles.
Williams hopes her story serves as a reminder to the community that bears are still out there and not all in hibernation.
“They are desperate, they are hungry,” Williams warns. “Lock your vehicles, make sure your windows are all rolled up, because even just a small half inch, they can get in and cause a lot of damage.”
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