Robbers force family into basement and duct-tape them during armed Queens home invasion
Two thugs armed with guns, one disguised as an Amazon worker, pushed their way into a home in Queens and tied up the family – including three young children – and duct taped their mouths shut, according to law enforcement sources.
The thieves, one wearing an Amazon vest the other a black hoodie, forced their way into a single-family home at 152-14 12th Avenue in Whitestone Monday morning just after 9 a.m., police and sources said.
4 Two thugs armed with guns, one disguised as an Amazon worker, pushed their way into a home in Queens and tied up the family.
Kyle Mazza/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
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One of the family's four children who had already left for school accidentally left the door open making it easier for the gunman to enter the home, law enforcement sources said.
The hooligans forced the family into the basement at gunpoint, tied them up and stretched duct tape over their mouths, sources said.
The pair raided the home and fled with an unknown amount of cash and jewelry using the victim's own car, a silver Chrysler minivan, as the getaway vehicle.
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4 The thieves forced their way into a single-family home at 152-14 12th Avenue in Whitestone Monday morning just after 9 a.m.
Kyle Mazza/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Investigators found it abandoned two blocks away, police said.
John Nardone had just climbed out of his car to get to work when he saw the terrified father running out of the house tugging at something on his face. Nardone realized it was duct tape.
'I said, 'are you ok?'' Nardone said. 'He said his kids were in the basement.'
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Nardone called 911 immediately, according to FreedomNewsTV.
4 One of the family's four children who had already left for school accidentally left the door open making it easier for the gunman to enter the home.
Kyle Mazza/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
'I honestly didn't really know what he was saying. He didn't really speak the greatest English,' the witness told FreedomNewsTV. 'He seemed really rattled and like he did not know even what was going on. But he was definitely very nervous.'
Two police cars responded to the house, which is across the street from PS 193 Alfred J. Kennedy Elementary School, within minutes, Nardone said. He told officers what little he knew.
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'He was definitely disheveled,' the witness said of the terrified father. 'He was definitely, like, scared. He probably didn't know what just happened himself.'
4 The hooligans forced the family into the basement at gunpoint, tied them up and stretched duct tape over their mouths.
Kyle Mazza/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Nardone said he was nervous himself because he was starting his second day at a new job and didn't want to be late.
The scene was so bizarre that at first he questioned what he was seeing.
'I was wondering if this was real, because that,' he said referring to the victim running out of a house, 'I've never seen something like that, like a guy come out of his house with duct tape all over his face.'
Police are still searching for the suspects and said the incident remains under investigation. Investigators are looking for any video they can find to help identify the brazen gunman.
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