Police: Man threatens elderly couple with fork during East Meadow home invasion

EAST MEADOW, New York (WABC) -- Nassau County police are searching for a home invasion suspect who robbed an elderly couple by threatening them with a large fork.

"It's not only robbing you of money, it's the way he handled us," Rita Barnett said. "He was really a brute."

The incident happened around 5:15 p.m. Monday on Apple Lane in East Meadow, at the home of Alan and Rita Barnett.

"I wanted to make sure the door was locked, so I opened the door, unfortunately," she said. "And there was the screen door, and there he was. And he pushed his way in."

Authorities say the 91-year-old man and his 87-year-old wife were inside their residence when she opened the rear door and observed a clean-shaven male in his 20s.

"I heard her say, 'We don't know who you are or where you're coming from or anything like that,'" Alan Barnett said. "And he muttered something about 'dinero.'"

The suspect grabbed a large kitchen fork, placing it to Rita's throat while demanding money.

The suspect confronted Alan in the hallway, and the World War II veteran and retired mechanical engineer grabbed his cane to fight the suspect off.

"I couldn't overpower him, and he threw me down on the tile floor," he said. "He was really a louse."

He wound up being pushed to the floor in the bathroom before the suspect removed an undisclosed amount of cash, credit cards and jewelry.

He then fled out the rear of the residence in an unknown direction.

"People try to take money from you, we've had that before, but never anybody that tried to hurt us," Rita Barnett said. "And he pulled us. Pulled him, pulled me. And I was thinking to myself, I'm don't know if I'm gong to die here. No one's here."

Detectives request anyone with information regarding this incident to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS. All callers will remain anonymous.