Woman Sexually Assaulted In Grove Home Invasion
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The search is on for four people who beat a man and sexually assaulted a woman during an overnight home invasion in Coconut Grove.
"Are you alright," CBS4 reporter asked one of the men who was robbed.
"Yes, we are okay, thank you," replied the man who is a school teacher.
Four men, who wore bandanas or some kind of t-shirts over their faces, rushed from the back of a home at Brooker Street and Oak Avenue just before 2 a.m. and forced two roommates, a woman and a man in the 20s who were sitting on the porch, into the home at gunpoint. Inside were the woman's sister and another male roommate.
The four armed men took a laptop computer, the roommates' cell phones and about one hundred dollars in cash. During the robbery, one of the male roommates was pistol whipped in the head gun. One of the women, also a school teacher, was sexually assaulted. She was checked out at the hospital and has since returned home.
"They're teachers, very respectable citizens in the community, they just didn't deserve this," said Sadie Sands.
Police said exent of this crime is alarming.
"That they would not only enter the home armed but that they would commit a sexual assault as well," said Miami police officer Frederica Burden.
Burden told CBS4's Peter D'Oench, "That is a real concern."
Neighbors were shocked when they heard what had happened.
"A horror, an absolute horror," said Neith Nevelson.
"It's scary, it's really scary," Ada Cohen.
"It's scary, there's no safe plance around, even in your home, on your porch," said Ken Duncombe, "It just doesn't make any sense."
Miami police believe that this was a random robbery and the people who live in the home were not targeted.
"This neighborhood is really getting bad," said Duncombe, "There's been a lot of things that have happened in this neighborhood, the whole Grove is starting to get ridiculous right now."
He told D'Oench, ""I don't think there is anything more concerning for anyone, which is your sense of privacy and your sense of security, but this is part of what we've been saying in the City of Miami for a while, we need to add cops and we were able to add 95 cops this budget period but we're still way depleted."
"We still need to hire another 300 cops. So the City of Miami needs a great big ounce of prevention which will help for a pound of cure," he said. "We simply need to hire more police officers."
Detectives scoured the house and surrounding area for information, police say this still need the public's help in catching those responsible.
After scouring the house and surrounding area for information, police say this still need the public's help in catching those responsible.
"Any tip, anything, anybody who heard, anything they saw, we are asking for their help," said Burden.
Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS.
