Homeowner, grandkids held at gunpoint during burglary spree, police say
A series of recent home break-ins in the northwest Las Vegas Valley are believed to be the work of the same armed burglars, Las Vegas police said Monday.
In one of the three burglaries, a woman was held at gunpoint in her home with her two granddaughters, the Metropolitan Police Department said.
The burglars got into the houses by breaking the sliding glass doors, Metro said. Then, armed with guns, they swept through the house while taking valuables, according to the three victims.
In each of the break-ins, they were seen traveling in a black Dodge Challenger, police and the three victims said.
The woman, who didn’t want her name used because she feared for her safety, said she came through the front door of her house at about 6:45 p.m. on Aug. 8 with her two granddaughters — who are 5 and 7 — to find a burglar pointing a gun at them. He even grabbed an iPad out of one of the girl’s hands, she said.
“The one with the gun, he was holding the gun behind my pantry, and then when I walked in the house is when he pulled the gun and held us all at gunpoint,” the woman said.
The burglars who broke into her house, which is in the area of Horse Drive and North Bradley Road, demanded that the woman call her husband to get the code to a large safe, she said.
She called her husband, who was also driving home. But he must have known something was wrong, the woman said, because he hung up without giving the code. The burglars then fled, she said. The woman believes they were thinking her husband might have called 911. They fled the house without taking the girl’s iPad, but they did take valuables including jewelry the woman had inherited, she said.
“They ran out when he was coming down the street,” she said. “So they got in the car and left. And I had taken the girls and ran down to a neighbor’s house.”
‘Metro’s going to catch them’
Rebecca Wood, whose home in the Ann Road and Jones Boulevard area was broken into on Aug. 6, said the burglars are so audacious — smashing through sliding glass doors in broad daylight — that they’ll probably get caught.
“I think Metro’s going to catch them,” Wood said. “I really have faith in them.”
Wood said that according to the surveillance cameras in her house, the burglars were inside her house for about 47 minutes. Wood said the burglars had been trying to break into a safe. When she was coming home at about 8:50 p.m., she said, she noticed the black Challenger parked on the street outside her house. The car then sped off.
Wood said that she believes one of the burglars fled out a back door when she got home and that one of them was still in her house. She went into her house, and noticed that the sliding glass door was wide open, so she decided to get out of the house and call 911.
The burglars took jewelry that had been passed down from family members, cash, a safe and a gun, she said. They ransacked the master bedroom and bathroom.
“You feel really violated; you feel really insecure in your safety,” Wood said.
‘Pit in your stomach’
A 37-year-old resident, whose home in the Sahara Avenue and Durango Road area was broken into at about 2 p.m. on Aug. 10, said the burglars took jewelry and cash after smashing their way through the sliding glass door.
“A bit distraught, and kind of just scared that it could happen again,” he said, describing his reaction to the burglary. “It gives you a bit of a pit in your stomach and kind of makes you feel a bit violated.”
After posting about the break-ins online, the victims were able to connect and realize they weren’t alone. They also realized that it appeared they had all been victimized by the same burglars because of the similarities in each incident, such as the forced entry through the sliding doors and the recurring appearance of a black Challenger.
Police released photographs of the suspected perpetrators creeping through the victims’ houses with guns drawn, as well as photos of the black Dodge Challenger. The burglars’ faces are mostly concealed by what appear to be ski masks, but in one of the images, a male in a Calvin Klein hoodie appears to be making eye contact with the camera.
“I would like for them to to get caught and for justice to be served,” he said.
Contact Brett Clarkson at bclarkson@reviewjournal.com. Review-Journal staff writer David Wilson contributed to this report.