2 men sought in Chester County home invasion
UWCHLAN TWP., Pa. (WPVI) -- Police in Chester County are trying to track down the two men behind a violent home invasion in Uwchlan Township.
And officials are exploring a potential link to a very similar attack on a nearby house, just one week ago.
Police say early Wednesday morning, in the middle of the night, two men armed with handguns barged into a house, tied up the homeowners and their two adult children, and demanded money.
"These folks are unknown to the owners of the property or anyone else who was in the house. They were all sort of huddled into the same room, and each one of the family members was bound as well," said Uwchlan Police Lt. Scott Alexander.
The family handed over a small amount of cash and the two men fled. Exactly one week earlier, in neighboring Upper Uwchlan Township, a strikingly similar crime.
"They came inside and showed the gun," said Mahendra Patel of Chester Springs.
Two masked men barged into Mahendra Patel's home in Chester Springs early in the morning. At gunpoint, they rounded up the family in the living room, and filled a bag with $10,000 in cash and jewelry.
"My grandson was very scared. They ... closed him in the closet, and from outside they closed the door," said Patel.
Police are exploring links between the two home invasions, but haven't found any yet. They don't think the crimes were random, but also don't know why the victims were targeted - at least not yet.
"We certainly are not suggesting in any way that they have any knowledge of what happened there or that they know these folks, but it would seem likely that these folks ended up there for a particular reason," said Alexander.
One of the victims of Wednesday's home invasion was struck in the head with a handgun when she momentarily hesitated in complying with the commands of a suspect.
She was treated for injuries at Paoli Memorial Hospital.
Uwchlan police police are providing updates on their investigation on their Facebook page.
They're hoping to get tips from the public.
