L.I. Towns On High Alert Following Home Invasions
Updated Dec. 16 10:50 a.m.
GREAT NECK, N.Y. (CBS 2) -- It was two hours of terror on Long Island.
Homeowners were advised to be vigilant on Wednesday night following a series of violent home invasions.
The search is on for a man suspected of attacking a young child, and two women -- in two different towns.
Police were checking in on the Kings Point family where the horrifying home invasions began just before 3 a.m.
Investigators said a 5-year-old girl sleeping near her 1-year-old sister inside the Lighthouse Road home was awakened by a man -- an intruder -- standing over her bed. He fled without harming the girls. A neighbor too frightened to show her face told CBS 2's Hazel Sanchez she's worried her family might be next.
"This is horrendous. This is so scary," the woman said.
Just 25 minutes later police believe the same man broke through the back door of another home on Lighthouse Road. A 63-year-old woman was startled out bed by the sound of breaking glass. Police said the woman saw the suspect looking at her through a broken window, then he ran away.
"Very creepy. Very creepy. I don't even know how that could happen," neighbor Ivy Helstein said.
Helstein said her next-door neighbor's home on Georgian Lane in Great Neck was struck next. Police said just before 5 a.m. the suspect snuck into the 61-year-old victim's home.
Investigators said the woman woke up in her second-floor bedroom, with a man putting a knife to her throat.
The victim was able to snatch the knife and chase the suspect away.
"Horrible, horrible. I can't even imagine that. That's gotta be the worst thing that can happen to someone. Very frightening," Helstein said.
The suspect is described as a Hispanic man with a dark complexion, 25 to 30 years old, about 5-foot-10, 200 pounds, with black hair, facial hair, wearing a wool cap, black jacket, blue jeans, and black shoes with silver side buckles.
Residents like Arthur Rose said he feels there's not much more the residents of his neighborhood could do to protect themselves.
"You have to be careful and you have to be lucky I guess," Rose said.
