A family of five was imprisoned in a bedroom of their Florida home while four armed men ransacked the house in middle of the night, according to the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office. It happened around 2:15 a.m. Tuesday, July 12, in Brooksville, and the robbers successfully escaped, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
Brooksville is about 50 miles north of Tampa. Investigators said the ordeal began in the driveway of a home on Seaway Drive when a family member returned from work. Another vehicle quickly pulled up behind him and four men got out of it, all dressed in black, wearing masks and “armed with various firearms,” the sheriff’s office said.
“The suspects ordered the victim to the ground. After demanding money and jewelry from the victim, the suspects escorted the victim to the front door of the residence. The victim unlocked the door and entered the residence; the suspects followed him in,” officials said. “According to the victim, he and four members of his family (who were already in the residence) were placed in a bedroom and told to remain there. During this time, the suspects took various things from inside the residence.”
The family left the bedroom around 2:30 a.m. — when they were confident the robbers had left — and called the sheriff’s office, officials said. “None of the victims were injured during the incident,” the sheriff’s office said. The identity of the family was not released and detectives did not say what was taken from the home.