The home invasion was caught on camera, when three armed bandits terrorized a mother and children at a home in the 8500 block of Karen and Shayan. The parents were tied up and threatened, and their three young children witnessed the whole thing.
The surveillance cameras from the family's home captured the frightening break-in around 3:30am Tuesday. Three gunmen, wearing gloves, bandanas and baseball caps, burst through the front door.
"They were inside like 10 or 15 minutes, and then they go," said a family friend who didn't want to be identified.
A husband, wife and their three children, ages two, five and seven, were inside. The gunmen forced the woman and children to the floor, pointing guns at them and threatening to kill the children if the husband didn't comply with their demands.
The homeowner, who's fearful for his family's safety and doesn't want to be identified, says he was scared to death. He says the men were asking for money and they said they were going to kill somebody if he didn't give it to them.
The thieves stole cash, jewelry, cell phones and wallets -- even a case of beer. They made the homeowner to sign over the title to his 2007 Chevrolet Avalanche and then drove away in it. The family's pit bull got away as well.
The family friend theorized, "Maybe it's somebody who knew her, and they know everything from here, they were inside the house or ... I don't know. She was not sure."
The family owns five taqueria stands. They were robbed at midnight, just hours before the home invasion.
"It's very difficult when you get a hardworking man, scare his family, take his things -- puts it on the top of our list," said Wallace Wyatt with the Harris County Sheriff's Office.
The family describes the suspects in the home invasion as young Hispanic men, and they say the suspects who robbed them at their business were black men. There's no word from deputies if the two cases are related.
No one was injured, but the children are extremely scared. Their mother says they are with relatives and didn't go to school for the day.
Deputies say the suspects are only described as wearing all black colored clothing, including hats and bandanas, and were armed with hand guns and a rifle. They spoke English and Spanish.
Anyone with information about either the home invasion or the business robbery is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
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