Sheriff: Masked robbers break into Polk County home with kids inside, leave empty-handed
The search for two suspects is underway in Polk County.
Security video shows masked robbers breaking into a home in Lakeland, authorities say. They are wearing gloves and working together to break down the door.
People who live here say this is not the kind of thing they expect in this neighborhood.
“It's just very uncharacteristic, I mean take a look around, it's an upscale neighborhood,” one neighbor says.
The break-in happened Saturday night. And neighbors wonder why this home and this neighborhood were targeted.
“There's probably very few homes that don't have cameras, and between you and me, many people own guns. Somebody's got to be out of their mind to break into a home in a neighborhood like this,” a neighbor said.
Shane Moore is new to the neighborhood but says it doesn’t appear to be the type of place where a home invasion would happen.
“Everybody is friendly here, man. We get along. We party on the weekends. We're out in the street. We play corn hole,” he said.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd says the thieves broke down the door and entered the home but didn’t get away with anything.
“When the burglars that did the home invasion heard the kids screaming and crying and noticed it was kids there, he told the others, ‘let's go, it's kids,’ and they left without taking anything,” Judd said.
Investigators are also wondering why the thieves chose this home.
“Well, it's dangerous for the ones who kicked the doors in. I can tell you if you kick my door in the middle of the night, I will kill you graveyard dead and the owners of the house would certainly have every right to do that,” he said.
The sheriff says he wants the thieves thrown in jail because of the violent nature of the home invasion.
If you recognize them, contact the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
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