Police seek 4 suspects in armed robbery who beat woman, child on Staten Island
MANOR HEIGHTS, Staten Island (WABC) -- Police are investigating an armed robbery on Staten Island that ended with a family being attacked. The mother spoke out to Eyewitness News about their ordeal.
Officials say suspects broke into a home on Livingston Avenue and Queen Street just before 1 a.m. Monday.
Surveillance video shows four people entering the home one by one, three of them armed with guns.
Authorities say they got into the home by kicking in a door. In the video, one of the suspects looks through a drawer while two others walk down the hallway and enter different rooms.
A 33-year-old woman, her 5-year-old daughter, and 4-year-old son, as well as a 54-year-old live-in nanny, were home during the robbery, police said.
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The woman invited Eyewitness News into her home. She didn't want to go on camera, but she did walk us through what happened.
The mom had to get stiches and she and the 5-year-old have bruises on their faces.
She told Eyewitness News she didn't hear the men break the door down and was only woken up when they turned on her bedroom light and put a gun to her head.
"I got up when they put a gun on my head," the mother recalled. "He's like, 'Where's the money?' So, I said, 'I don't know.' I was like, 'Please, I have two kids! Just take whatever you want.'"
She says they hit her with the gun and then slammed her into a wall. At this point, she says she was in such shock that she didn't really even feel the pain.
Then, she says the men brought her 5-year-old girl in the room, she already had injuries to her face. They then brought the live-in nanny into the room as well.
She says the men kept demanding cash and says she kept insisting that she had none.
The woman believes the intruders targeted their home and that the men knew her husband was not home at the time.
"Something went on in this home, and their lives, that brought this to this home. And that has to be figured out," said former NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce to Eyewitness News. "It's a professional crew and, hopefully, you'll get a break in the case. All criminals make a mistake. Let's see if we can find this one."
The 5-year-old will be okay physically. She just has a lot of bruising, but she was in a good mood.
Neighbors of the victims were left stunned and horrified by the surveillance images.
"It really looked like a horror movie," one neighbor said. "It looked like something out of a war zone. A war zone in the middle of my friend's living room at 1 a.m."
One woman who lives in the neighborhood, asked not to be identified because the thieves have not been caught.
"Everyone's very concerned because of the viciousness and the heinous nature of the crime," the woman said. "And it's particularly barbaric to beat up a woman and a child."
Police provided surveillance pictures of the suspects. They are asking anyone who knows any information, or who recognizes anything about these suspects, to contact police at 1800-577-8477 (TIPS).
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