Paterson family terrorized during home invasion robbery

PATERSON, N.J. (WABC) -- Two masked men burst into a Paterson family's apartment and robbed them at gunpoint, even pointing the barrel of the gun at two small children.

"I keep saying, 'Please just don't shoot my kids,'" said Shaquah McGuire, home invasion victim.

What mother can handle hearing her 7-year-old daughter give a play-by-play of a masked man who put a gun to her head?

"He put it right there," the little girl said.

"A gun?" Eyewitness News asked.

"Yes," the child said.

Or erase the image seeing terror on her young son's face. Shaquah can't.

"My kids were just holding me, my son had his eyes closed real tight so that he wouldn't see the guy," McGuire said.

It started with banging on the door just before 3 a.m. Wednesday at her apartment on Governor Street in Paterson.

"They kicked the door in, they had a gun, tied me up with a belt," McGuire said.

Police say there were two men wearing masks. One of them went into bedroom of her great aunt, patted her down in the bed, then grabbed her pillow where she was sleeping with all the cash she had, $200 from social security check.

"I don't know if they were going to come back, I don't know, I'm scared," said Tama Chambers, home invasion victim.

The 27-year-old fast food employee says she had withdrawn money from a corner store ATM from the last three days, and thinks someone may have noticed her.

They took $1,500, her food stamp card, and the social security cards for all four of her children.

"I just said, 'Go ahead,' I said, 'Please just don't shoot my kids,'" McGuire said.

When it was over, McGuire ran outside and flagged down an officer.

Paterson Police say they have several leads, but are still asking for tips from the public.

McGuire immediately went to social services to try to get a new housing assignment with her safety concerns, but says she was denied because she didn't have a police report.