Doesn't mean you're safe.
[url]http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou090917_mp_full-house-robberies.18e08bf00.html[/URL]
Robbers targeting homes full of people
HOUSTON – A group of armed men are barging into homes full of people and robbing them. Police say the robbers are targeting the Timbercrest neighborhood in the Third Ward.
One Sunday night, the Abernathy family was enjoying dinner when they had an uninvited guest.
"I thought it was somebody playing with us,” said Helen Abernathy, robbery victim.
Helen Abernathy said she laughed when she saw the strange man in her kitchen, until he pulled out a gun.
“He said, ‘This is for real. This is a robbery. I want everything you have,’" Abernathy said.
He and a friend robbed everyone in the house.
It may sound like an ordinary home invasion except there weren’t just a few people in the home at the time.
“Twenty people. There was 20 people in the house," Abernathy said.
Two days later, police believe the same men barged into a crowded fraternity house just down the street and robbed the people there. The students have now moved out and the home is for rent.
"That's the fear that the community has. And they have every right to be fearful because they are taxpaying citizens and we are not going to take this," said Houston City Council Member Wanda Adams.
The robberies prompted a town-hall meeting.
"It is our responsibility as citizens of this community to tell them, no, you're not going to have that here. We're not going to allow it," said neighborhood president Tomaro Bell.
Residents think the criminals are hiding out in abandoned buildings which are numerous in the area since Hurricane Ike. But for all the fear they're causing, the robbers don't seem to be getting much for it.
"Cell phones and about $300. I don't think it was really worth coming in," said Abernathy.
She says she's not scared. Instead, she's fighting back.
"They don't want to go to work. They don't want to do anything. They want to take people's things. Work. Go to work," said Abernathy.
The community is now working together with the police department to stop the rash of brazen crimes.
[url]http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou090917_mp_full-house-robberies.18e08bf00.html[/URL]
Robbers targeting homes full of people
HOUSTON – A group of armed men are barging into homes full of people and robbing them. Police say the robbers are targeting the Timbercrest neighborhood in the Third Ward.
One Sunday night, the Abernathy family was enjoying dinner when they had an uninvited guest.
"I thought it was somebody playing with us,” said Helen Abernathy, robbery victim.
Helen Abernathy said she laughed when she saw the strange man in her kitchen, until he pulled out a gun.
“He said, ‘This is for real. This is a robbery. I want everything you have,’" Abernathy said.
He and a friend robbed everyone in the house.
It may sound like an ordinary home invasion except there weren’t just a few people in the home at the time.
“Twenty people. There was 20 people in the house," Abernathy said.
Two days later, police believe the same men barged into a crowded fraternity house just down the street and robbed the people there. The students have now moved out and the home is for rent.
"That's the fear that the community has. And they have every right to be fearful because they are taxpaying citizens and we are not going to take this," said Houston City Council Member Wanda Adams.
The robberies prompted a town-hall meeting.
"It is our responsibility as citizens of this community to tell them, no, you're not going to have that here. We're not going to allow it," said neighborhood president Tomaro Bell.
Residents think the criminals are hiding out in abandoned buildings which are numerous in the area since Hurricane Ike. But for all the fear they're causing, the robbers don't seem to be getting much for it.
"Cell phones and about $300. I don't think it was really worth coming in," said Abernathy.
She says she's not scared. Instead, she's fighting back.
"They don't want to go to work. They don't want to do anything. They want to take people's things. Work. Go to work," said Abernathy.
The community is now working together with the police department to stop the rash of brazen crimes.
