Police are on the hunt for suspects after two north Philadelphia families were targeted in separate home invasions over the weekend.
Early Saturday morning, two masked men ambushed a 38-year-old man and his family returning home, police say. The suspects followed the family into the home with handguns, and then shortly after, they kidnapped the man, according to police.
The suspects forced the victim back into his own car and drove to the victim’s brother’s house and kidnapped the brother, police say.
“Now both of them are zip-tied with their hands bound while they’re in a car,” Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore with the Philadelphia Police Department told reporters. “They are being assaulted with firearms, struck with the firearms and the money is being demanded.”
Police eventually caught up to the car and the suspects fled.
“One went one way, one went the other from the car,” Vanore said, adding that several hundreds of dollars was taken from the victims.
At one point during the incident, an officer tried to intervene by firing a gun, but no one was injured, police say.
Vanore said it appears to be a “targeted” crime. “It’s obvious they knew he was coming home,” the deputy commissioner said of the first victim.
At around midnight Sunday, there was another home invasion about four miles away from the first home targeted.
A man dressed in black and armed with a gun approached a father sitting on his porch and forced his way inside the house, police say.
The suspect tied up the man, his wife and their daughter using zip ties and stole $1,000 in cash, according to police. The suspect hit the man in the head with the gun before fleeing, police say.
It’s unclear whether the attacks are connected or whether the families knew each other. But police said there’s currently no evidence that the two home invasions are tied.
Philadelphia police toldThe Independent Tuesday evening no arrests have been made at this time.
