Home Invasion Suspect Escapes, Still Wanted
Intense neighborhood search on Wednesday night fails to find an armed robber.
Residents of several neighborhoods in Tucker were disturbed on Wednesday night by massive police activity involving helicopters with search lights and multiple vehicles with wailing sirens.
It was all for nothing. A man who committed a home invasion on Brownlee Drive managed to escape the hunt, and he may have had accomplices who also got away.
The incident began shortly before 10 p.m. when a man wearing a red scarf and a brown hat entered the home of a married couple through the carport door and demanded cash at gunpoint.
The female resident, who was in her bedroom, gave him $120 she had in her purse. "She asked him to just take the money and not her wallet," the police report stated.
The suspect then proceeded to tie up the male resident with duct tape, and was attempting to do the same to his wife when two friends of the family walked into the house. "There was a brief scuffle," DeKalb Police spokeswoman Mekka Parish told Tucker Patch in a telephone call.
The intruder tried to detain the two visitors but one of them "elbowed the suspect in the face" and they escaped in their car while dialing 911, according to the report. The suspect followed them on foot for as long as he could toward Brockett Road, leaving the couple in the house behind.
One of the visitors told police he believes others may have been involved, possibly "a second subject hiding in the carport and a third subject keeping lookout while walking up and down the street," the report said.
A witness who called 911 said she saw "a red Honda Civic leaving the area at a high rate of speed," but could not provide descriptions of any passengers. It's not yet clear if they were involved in the robbery.
Parish could not confirm if there was more than one suspect, saying, "we have no detailed description; he (the intruder) has not been located."
The names of the victims have been removed from this article at the request of the family.
Lori Laliberte-Carey
10:14 am on Friday, November 30, 2012
How about a better description of the suspect? Age, height, weight, race, hair color and length?
Kevin Madigan
10:32 am on Friday, November 30, 2012
Lori - as the article states, police have "no detailed description."
Cheryl Miller
10:28 am on Friday, November 30, 2012
I am no detective, but I'm hoping the police picked up on the fact that the description of the suspect in the home invasion (red scarf, gun) is similar to that of the Piccadilly attempted robbery several hours prior (red bandana, gun) and only a mile or so apart, riiiiiight???
Kevin Madigan
10:31 am on Friday, November 30, 2012
I was thinking the same thing, Cheryl. Let's hope..
Lavoe Chabby
11:07 pm on Friday, November 30, 2012
This is the kind of crap that Tucker is starting to come too as of late. I have been a native here since the early 70's. My Grandfather owned Wilkes Market. This sickens me to see this area come to this. They need to demolish all the apartments in Tucker and set up new neighbor hoods, to weed out the thugs. Get them out before its to late, They will be in for a surprise if they come anywhere on my street. Lots of armed, aware neighbors.
Lori Laliberte-Carey
11:07 am on Saturday, December 1, 2012
You're right Kevin. Oops. And I know being tied up with duct tape at gunpoint is stressful. But I was hoping for some basics, lean or heavy, white, black, Latino...
LizBeth Roberts
2:58 pm on Saturday, December 1, 2012
Kevin, do you know if the carport door was unlocked? Was the front door unlocked when the two family friends entered? Did they have an alarm system? It occurs to me how I need to be much more diligent in my efforts to protect my home. Thank you for your article.
Kevin Madigan
6:50 pm on Saturday, December 1, 2012
Hi Lizbeth. The police are not answering any more questions at present, but this is an ongoing story so stay tuned.
Lou
5:49 pm on Tuesday, January 8, 2013
No detailed description available? Surely with four people seeing the crook, someone observed race and height and build. Sounds mightly "politically correct" to me and, if so, shame on the DeKalb County police.
Sam
2:25 pm on Friday, January 11, 2013
Anita this information is incorrect. The police interrogated the victims as if they were suspects but that proved inconclusive. The victims of this invasion were just that victims, and it is ignorant to accuse them of being involved after such a traumatic event for the family.
Kevin Madigan
3:20 pm on Friday, January 11, 2013
According to DeKalb Police spokesperson Mekka Parish, no arrests have been made.
Jeff Rollins
6:20 pm on Friday, January 11, 2013
Kevin, I doubt there will be an arrest made as long as DeKalb PD slanders our children (one of which does not even live in the house) to detract from the fact that they can not catch this guy. A guy who's description matches the attempted car jacker at Piccadilly. Anita's "good news" attitude towards her neighbors in our community is disturbing.
Anita
3:43 am on Thursday, January 17, 2013
Hey Jeff; I live very close to the home invasion. Please forgive the wrong choice of words on my part; the lingo "good news" lead to a big mis-understanding. Had NO IDEA of the police interrogation details. Was just trying to seem positive in this negative world w/ the info. I got firsthand. Friends, neighbors, & fellow Tucker Citizens that know me know my heart. I hope y'all have an active neighborhood watch. Our neighborhood had a few break-in's several years ago & that resurrected our then in-active Neighborhood Watch. All the best & praying for this to be solved & someone arrested soon!