Bronxville Police: Weekend Home Break-In Connected To Prior Incident
BRONXVILLE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A well-to-do Westchester community is on edge after a home break-in over the weekend.
The Bronxville Police Department is on the hunt for two suspects, CBS2's Diane Macedo reported.
"I feel very blessed that we're OK, and it was too bad it happened," Jennifer Shively told CBS2 in an exclusive interview.
The incident happened around 11 p.m. Saturday. A couple on Summit Avenue said the burglars broke in through a second-floor window while their home alarm was off.
"When I first saw two men in my bedroom, that felt like being in a movie, and very surreal, and very scary," Shively said.
Shively and her husband George were asleep when a noise inside their bedroom woke them up.
George Shively said he was hit in the head with a flashlight during the incident and, according to cops, that's the most troubling part.
"We normally would see a burglary that goes bad, so to speak, and they encounter somebody in the home, they would immediately flee the home, in this case they chose to assault the male homeowner, stay in the home for several minutes, demand cash and jewelry," Bronxville Police Chief Christopher Satriale told CBS2's Lou Young.
"They woke me up with a flashlight in the face; (they said), 'Get out of bed! Get up! Get down on the floor!' I didn't get down on the floor. That's when, you know," George Shively said.
Shively was not seriously injured.
The suspects took a wedding ring and coin collection. Police are canvassing pawn shops in the area for the stolen items, Young reported.
Police believe the robbery is connected to a previous burglary on May 10 on nearby Governors Road. The Governors Road house was unoccupied, but the burglars used the same method of second-floor entry, tripping the alarm, police said.
"We believe the two are linked. The method of entry, the point of entry and the point of exit is identical in both and the time frame is similar," Satriale said. "We put out an alert this morning asking for any other department within Westchester County or even Connecticut that has been experiencing burglaries involving second-floor forced entry to contact us."
Police are urging all residents in the area to lock their doors and windows.
"There should be some level of concern, a heightened level of awareness," Satriale told WCBS 880's Peter Haskell.
Police have also asked residents on surrounding streets who might have surveillance cameras on the outside of their homes to check the video for anything suspicious.