A Gwinnett County grandmother and her 14-year-old granddaughter were brutally beaten by a naked man who broke into their home through a window, police said Wednesday. When officers arrived, the man was still in the home. He was arrested.
The 73-year-old woman told police she heard a loud noise around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, and when she got up to check it out, she saw a naked man in her granddaughter’s room, Cpl. Michele Pihera with Gwinnett police said.
“The male began to beat, punch, and kick both of them multiple times,” Pihera said in an emailed statement. “At one point, he threw a printer and dresser at them demanding money. The grandmother put her hands up to protect herself, but the suspect kept hitting her.”
The woman was able to call 911, but was unable to communicate with the dispatcher because she was being assaulted, according to police. The call was traced to the woman’s Lawrenceville-area home and officers were dispatched.
Officers arrived at the home and found a kitchen window that had been broken by a piece of patio furniture thrown through it, police said. Screams and a trail of blood led officers to a bathroom of the home, where the grandmother and teen were in the shower, Pihera said. The older woman was unconscious.
“The entire shower and most of the walls and floor were covered in blood,” Pihera said.
The naked suspect was standing just outside of the bathroom, wet from sweat, water and blood, according to police. The suspect, identified as Andre Latrell Burton, 32, of Memphis, Tenn., was ordered to surrender, but when he didn’t comply, he was Tasered, police said. Once the suspect was handcuffed, he was taken out of the home.
Not far from the home, officers found a stolen car Burton allegedly drove to the home. He was charged with: theft by taking, battery, kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, burglary, robbery, interference with a 911 call, false imprisonment, public indecency, cruelty to children, failure to have license on person, and parking on a public roadway.
Burton was booked into the Gwinnett jail, where he was being without bond Wednesday afternoon.
The woman and her granddaughter were hospitalized with serious injuries, but both are expected to recover, police said.
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