Victims tell of terrifying armed home invasion

A Savannah family has told of their terrifying ordeal at the hands of armed robbers who kicked the locks off their front door and held a gun to the head of a father in front of his young son.

The father, who spoke to the Compass on condition of anonymity, reflected that the presence of his primary-school-age child may have been the deciding factor that prevented the home invasion escalating into murder.

At one point, he said, one of the men pointed the gun directly at his face.

“You could see he was trying to figure out where he could shoot me,” he said, “but then, he looked down on my son, and my son said ‘Dad’, and I think he caught pity because he just walked off.”

The man was at his home off Shamrock Road, along with his young son and elderly parents, just after 10:15pm on Friday night when the robbery occurred.

In an interview Monday, the man and his mother both described chaotic scenes that left them fearing for their lives.

The man was outside with his father, sitting on buckets and smoking a cigarette in the night air, when they heard crunching noises from the side of the home that they initially thought was the pet cat.

When they saw the two men in ski masks and hoodies, the older man screamed in fear, as the son fled inside the house.

His mother, who was sleeping, recalled: “They kicked that [door] right off. It’s an old house – 20 odd years – so the door jamb was weak, and they came in and that’s when I woke up… and I said, ‘What’s going on?’”

By this time, her son had already hurried to the room where his child was sleeping, pursued by the two masked robbers. 

‘Why you going to kill my mother?’

He tried to brace himself against the door, until he heard the men making threats towards his mother – “Tell him to open the door or I am going to kill you.”

“When they said that, I just gave up,” the man said.

In the midst of the horror, he argued with the gunmen, asking, “Why you going to kill my mother?”, before telling her to run.

Taking up the story, the elderly woman said she fled outside.

“The tall one stayed with [my son] and the short one ran me down and I dropped, and he said, ‘Where you running to’, with the gun down in my face, and I said, ‘Why are you going to kill me for, what have I done you? I don’t even know you; I can’t even see you’, and he said, ‘I’m not going to kill you.'”

Meanwhile, the other intruder was demanding jewellery from her son, who had a gun pointed to his head, while his son looked on at his father, trembling.

“He said, ‘Where is the chain?’ and I gave him the chain because my son is in the room, so, I’m not going to put up a fight, and he said, ‘Where is the next one?’ and I said, ‘I don’t have nothing else, I don’t have nothing else’, and he kept the gun on me and you could see he was trying to figure out where he could shoot me, but then he looked down on my son, and my son said, ‘Dad’, and I think he caught pity because he just walked off.”

And as he walked out, the other man was still standing over the woman who suffered several scrapes as a result of her falling down on the brick pavement.

She said, ”And when he (the other intruder) came out, the guy was still over me and he said to him, ‘F*ck her, let’s go.’ 

“So then I jumped up and [went into the house]… and I called 911, but apparently that was the second call that came in.”

She said her husband had been knocking on neighbours’ doors to get help but nobody would let him in.

“Everybody was afraid, but they called the police.”

Premeditated

The daunting experience has left the family traumatised and confused, but they believe that the situation was a direct, premeditated attack, targeting the man’s jewellery.

“My necklace is still there, they only came for his,” said the mother. 

“I have my handbag, I have money, but they didn’t ask for nothing, they only came for his jewellery.”

According to the man, the chain and bracelets taken were valued at around $12,000 – money which he had saved up in order to pay instalments at a local store over a course of months.

“I’ve always had gold,” he said. “From time I was in school. My mother always got me gold and I’m used to that. I like it.”

But for now he is left with questions about why he was targeted for the brutal crime, wondering if it was something he did, or for revenge or simply jealousy. Though one thing he is certain about is he and his family didn’t deserve to be treated like criminals.

“When people come to your home and kick off your door, you have to steal some drugs, owe some money, fight them out on the road or did something bad… but I did none of these things.

“I don’t know how I deserve this. You know how people would get karma for something they did? I swear to God, I don’t have no karma because I haven’t done anything to anybody. Obviously, no one is perfect, but I did nothing to nobody.”

The situation has left him staying in home in fear, during a week he was supposed to get his son’s school supplies. His mother has also been on edge, noting she went to the shop thinking the perpetrator could be the person right next to her.

“I went to the shop and if I saw a man pass, especially a short man, I’m cringing because you don’t know who.”

The matter is currently under investigation by the RCIPS Criminal Investigations Department. Police are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed the incident or who may have any information, to contact George Town CID at 949-4222.