Family robbed at gunpoint in Chester County home

Walter Perez Image
Wednesday, October 26, 2016

CHESTER SPRINGS, Pa. (WPVI) -- A Chester County family was robbed at gunpoint in their own home in broad daylight and the search is on for those suspects.

The two masked men with guns broke into Mahendra Patel's home in Chester Springs Tuesday morning.

"They came inside and showed the gun," Patel said.

Patel says they barged in through an unlocked backdoor.

As one gunman kept an eye on family members in the living room, the other forced Patel's teenage grandson to fill a bag with cash and jewelry.

When he was done, the second gunman bound the grandson's hands together.

"My grandson was very scared. They tied up his hands. They closed the door," Patel said.

Patel says there was also a third person who was inside a getaway car parked nearby.

But the gunmen had one more order before they left.

"They said, 'Get up. Go into the bathroom.' He told us to 'count to 1000. If you come out before that, I will shoot you,'" Patel said.

The thieves ended up getting away with an unspecified amount of cash and jewelry.

Upper Uwchlan Township Police Chief John DeMarco says it's a crime that has shaken the quiet community.

"For our neighborhood up here that is a very unusual occurrence. This is something that we rarely see up here. At 9:30 a.m., it's pretty quiet up here," DeMarco said.

Mahendra Patel says the monetary loss means a lot less to him then the effect this has had on his family, especially his grandson.

"I dislike this whole thing because my grandson was very scared," Patel said.