Brown bear, 12-year-old girl have close encounter in kitchen

After hearing a racket at her home Wednesday afternoon, a 12-year-old girl from the San Bernardino Mountain community of Forest Falls went into her family’s kitchen and came face-to-face with an invading brown bear, authorities said.

The girl ran back upstairs and locked herself in the bathroom, then called her father at work, who in turn called the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department about 2:30 p.m.

“When the deputy got there, the bear had already left the residence. She said the bear ran out of the house and into the backyard," said sheriff’s spokeswoman Jodi Miller.

“The bear did not break into the house," Miller said. "He pushed a door that was unlocked."