A mother and her two adult children were tied up inside their Sugar Hill home and robbed Saturday during a violent early morning home invasion, Gwinnett County police said.
Three men wearing surgical masks entered the home on Primrose Park Road about 5 a.m. after breaking in through a basement window, police said. The mother told officers she assumed the noise downstairs was her 20-year-old son coming home after a night out with friends.
Then the men barged into her bedroom claiming to be Gwinnett County police, according to a police report obtained by AJC.com.
“They grabbed her and punched her and restrained her with zip ties,” an officer said in the report, “and demanded to know where the money, drugs and jewelry were.”
The men found the woman’s 30-year-old daughter asleep in her bedroom.
She told officers she woke up to see a man standing beside her bed. She screamed, struggled and was eventually subdued when another man came to help the first. She was also bound with zip ties and placed in her mother’s bedroom. They were soon joined by the son, who was grabbed by the men when he returned home and came upstairs.
After a brief attempt to escape down the stairs, the 20-year-old man was again restrained and punched until he complied with orders, he told police. He suffered a deep cut behind one ear believed to be from the butt of a gun, as well as bruising and swelling on the left side of his face, according to the report.
The family said they sat tied for about 30 minutes while the men ransacked the house. They believed at least two had guns, and some spoke with Jamaican accents. One of the men kept slipping into an American accent, they told police.
“All of the suspects were wearing dark clothing, surgical masks and gloves,” the reporting officer said. When asked if they knew the suspects or why they would be targeted, the family said they did not know.
When they were done, the men had taken $3,500 from the woman’s purse and $1,200 from her closet. They also grabbed a suitcase full of expensive purses and sunglasses, she told police. The suitcase was found empty on the side of the home, according to the report.
The men left the family with a knife and instructions to wait 10 minutes before cutting themselves free, the report said. They drove off in a small, dark-colored SUV, as seen on neighbors’ doorbell cameras, police said.
After the suspects left, the son ran across the street to alert a neighbor, who called 911. The 20-year-old was taken to Northside Hospital Forsyth to be treated for his head injury.
The woman and her daughter were also battered but did not require hospitalization.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 404-577-8477, text information to 274637 or visit the Crime Stoppers website. A cash reward has been offered for information leading to an arrest and indictment in the case.
