INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - Police have released photos of two men suspected of a home invasion robbery on the south side.
Surveillance pictures from the Family Dollar store at 8083 Madison Avenue show two men who police say are wanted for the robbery. Investigators say the suspects used one of the credit cards stolen in the robbery at the store's ATM.
Police say they have identified the Hispanic male shown in the photos, but are seeking the public's help identifying the other man. That suspect is described as a black male teenager between 15-17 years old, standing about 5'10" with a thin build. He was wearing a black and white hooded sweatshirt with the NASA logo.
The victims of the home invasion, a couple in their 70s, were assaulted and tied up by the suspects, who robbed them and drove off in their Jeep, a silver 2002 model with Indiana license plate RGP454.
The Perry Township couple said they both expected to be killed when two men robbed them in their home Tuesday morning.
"Two hours of hell and I mean that literally, not knowing if you were going to live the next minute, literally the next minute,” said Jack, an Amtrak retiree. “It was just horrendous."
The doorbell chimes have a beautiful sound at Jack and Julie's southside home. But Julie answered the door to an ugly incident Tuesday. Two men forced their way in and robbed the couple at gunpoint for about two hours.
"They kept asking me for more money,” said 76-year-old Julie. “I said, ‘We don't have any.’ That's when every time I would say we don't have any, they would hit me." Julie says the men hit her with their fists, the back of their hands and with a handgun they pointed at her. She is badly bruised and suffered a concussion and fractured eye socket and jaw.
She says the same two men, likely in their 20s, came to the house Monday asking for someone, then left, but she never got a clear look at them.
"The only thing I was focusing on was the gun. Big, huge, it had a barrel this big,” Julie said, holding up her hands about a foot apart in front of her.
The robbers ransacked the house. Julie was tied up in a chair in the family room. On his 75th birthday, Jack was duct taped to a chair in the bathroom with the lights out.
"Every once in a while, they would come to the bathroom,” said Jack. “They would open the door, put a gun to my head and say, 'Tell me where the money is. I'm going to kill you right now!' You believe this in the bottom of your heart that you're dead, that you're going to die. They're not going to come in here and leave witnesses. No, they're going to kill you. That's where we were at. But we're alive. Whew. We’re alive."
"If I could have gotten to my gun, I would have shot them,” said Julie. But the robbers found her .38 special in a drawer and stole the gun, along with a small amount of cash, a debit card and a 2002 silver Jeep Grand Cherokee in the garage. When the robbers left, Jack was able to free himself and call 911. The couple is surprised to be alive.
"I thought I was going to die,” said Julie. “I thought we were both going to die and I was pretty resigned to that."
Julie wishes she would have never answered the door.
"Up to then I had no fear. I open the door. Somebody is coming. I had no reason to be afraid. Today it's a different story."
The couple has lost all feeling of safety in their own home. "Just be very cautious,” said Julie. “Know who you are letting in your home. And if you don't know them, don't answer the door."
On Wednesday, family already installed a security camera at the entryway of the house.
"Never answer that door unless you know who you're answering it to,” said Jack. “Don't open that door. Don't unlock it for anybody unless you absolutely for sure know who it is. Because once that door is unlocked, Bam! They came in."
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police canvased the neighborhood again on Wednesday, asking neighbors for any information about suspicious men coming to their doors. Police also hope that neighbors might have home security video, or someone might have seen something or have information that can help identify and find the suspects.