The Woodlands Residents Victims Of Home Invasion

[susan]

tell the kids not to answer the door to strangers

The Woodlands Monitor (The Woodlands, TX) - According to a spokesperson with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, at approximately 6:00 p.m. Monday evening, three black males knocked on the door of a residence on Linton Ridge Court in the Village of Alden Bridge. Two children, one 14 year-old female and one 10 year-old male along with a 72 year-old female were home at the time.

The teenage girl answered the door. When asked who or what they needed, the assailants gave the girl a name neither she nor the other female recognized. As she was closing the door on the strangers, the three men forced their way into the house.

All three males were wearing dark hoodies and each brandished a hand gun. They took the victims to a room upstairs where they were bound with duct-tape. The assailants then ransacked the house while demanding the victims tell the assailants where their safe was located. This behavior continued for approximately 30 minutes. At approximately 6:30 p.m., the three males fled the house. It is unclear if they escaped on foot or in a waiting vehicle. However, one of the victims thought they heard a vehicle leaving the scene at a high rate of speed.

The three were eventually able to free themselves and call for help. No injuries related to the incident were reported.

Due to the nature of this incident, whether the suspects actually made off with anything was initially unclear.

If you have any information related to this incident, please contact Detective Paul Hahs of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office at 281-297-6510.

Edited January 2, 2008 by susan

[tomv]

Thank God nobody was hurt. This could have been much worse.

I hate hearing about stuff like this because it just ramps up the fear quotient. We have to be careful and prudent, but living in fear and teaching kids to live that way just won't work in the long run. There are too many "strangers" to interact with. And besides that, how about all the bad things that can happen from people we know (or think we know) ?

Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

[Native1]

There has actually been more than just this one incident in the last few days. Here is the press release from MCSO (also attached as an upload):

Tommy Gage, Sheriff

January 2, 2008

Media Advisory

For Immediate Release

Aggravated Robbery

MCSO_Press_Release_2Jan08.pdf

[woody_hawkeye]

I have heard recently that the incidents are believed to be tied to local business owners. Someone follows them home, cases it out and then attacks them. This information does not seem to correspond to the news articles however. but I guess identifying the home, casing it and then at some time later attacking, could fit with the rest of the information.

[Vertigo58]

Read about it in the local Conroe papers this weekend. Sadly, sounds like The Woodlands is joining the ranks of Houston as far as trouble makers like this is concerned. It's filtering out. Has been.

[mrfootball]

Here's a link to the 911 calls

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/myfox/pages/Ne...mp;pageId=3.2.1

[Rail]

One of these days, those thugs will follow the wrong person home...

[sarahiki]

One of these days, those thugs will follow the wrong person home...

I find this kind of story particularly scary in light of the home invasion in Connecticut this summer. In that case, two guys scoped out a grocery store, looking for potential victims. They spotted an attractive woman and her attractive teenage daughter, who then got into an expensive car. They followed them home. Later that night, they knocked on the door, then forced their way in. Long story short, they ended up raping the mother and two young daughters, beating the father, abducting the mother, burning the house down and killing everyone except the father, who managed to escape.

Horrifying. My mother knows the man; I hate to imagine what he lived through. Anyway, a terrible story, but I think a useful reminder of how serious that type of home invasion can be. As a previous poster said, don't unlock your door to anyone you don't know, and teach your kids that rule too.