South Bend man beaten and pistol whipped during home invasion
Posted: Nov 30, 2011 1:38 AM EDT | Updated: Nov 6, 2014 1:37 PM EDT
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- A man was sent to the hospital after three men and a woman broke into his home last night.
South Bend Police say the man was beaten and pistol whipped inside his home just before the intruders took off with several valuable things.
The man was beaten up pretty badly, but it how these intruders got in that really has neighbors worried now.
Police say the victim was set-up by the woman who was with the men, she and the victim had recently become friends and planned to go to dinner that night. That is why the man answered the door last night when the suspects knocked.
"I grew up in South Bend, I have been here for 32 years. I have seen it all, but this one hits too close to home, yea it was scary," says next door neighbor Julio Mercado.
Mercado lives in the apartment right next to where the home invasion happened...and says you know violence on the South Bend's West side is out of control when people are no longer safe in their own homes.
"It really has gotten to be to much, where you have to sleep with one eye home wondering if someone is going to kick your door in at night," says Mercado.
Police say the man who lives in one of the apartment at 811 Portage Avenue saw a friend at the door and when he opened the door for her three men jumped him. He was beaten him up so badly he had to go to the hospital.
The four thugs ransacked the house, taking the man's gun, wallet and car keys.
Rhonda Nicks, who lives in the apartment behind the man's house, was home at the time and was the one who called 9-1-1 when she heard the attack.
"It was ugly and my neighbor was attacked," Nicks.
To add insult to injury, the man's house was broken into again. It happened around 5 a.m., just hours after the home invasion, but this time police caught the burglar.
Police say the man they arrested was not at all involved in the home invasion earlier that night.
The man arrested by police was just a neighbor, who lived across the street from the apartment, that decided to take advantage of the fact that his neighbor was not at home.