An elderly couple who live near Battle Creek were awakened and robbed at gunpoint and left tied in their house early Tuesday.
Investigators are searching for a suspect and trying to determine if the robbery is related to a recent home invasion and three burglaries in Battle Creek.
"It is difficult to imagine waking up to armed gunmen who are threatening to harm you," said Detective Sgt. Steve Hinkley of the Calhoun County Sheriff Department.
Deputies were called at 4:35 a.m. Tuesday to the 7000 block of Division Drive south of Battle Creek in Newton Township.
Hinkley said a 13-year-old girl had run across Division Drive to a home and called 911 after she and her great-grandparents, both 84, were for nearly 45 minutes held at gunpoint, robbed and left tied inside the house.
Hinkley said the couple were awakened when two men turned on their bedroom lights. A third suspect also was in the house.
"They were standing over the bed and holding a handgun," Hinkley said. "They threatened to shoot them if they didn't cooperate."
Hinkley said the man and woman and the 13-year-old were tied using something from the house and then the men loaded electronic equipment and jewelry valued at thousands of dollars into the couple's car, a maroon Toyota Avalon.
Deputies found the Toyota about two miles away abandoned on Beadle Lake Road north of B Drive North.
It's believed the robbers transferred the stolen items into another vehicle and abandoned the Toyota.
The suspects are described as:
- A man of unknown race, 5-foot-10 and with a stocky build, wearing a baseball hat with a white hooded sweatshirt pulled over his head and wearing wavy green /brown camo pants.
- A black man, also 5-foot-10 but with a thin build and wearing a black hooded sweatshirt over his head and light colored jeans.
- The victims couldn't provide a description of the the third suspect.
None of the three victims were physically injured.
Hinkley asked anyone with information to call the sheriff office at 269-781-0880 or Silent Observer at 269-964-3888.
"Someone out there knows these people and certainly this is a violent incident and there is someone who knows who it is," Hinkley said.
He said neighbors reported a suspicious vehicle in the area recently and some larcenies which had not been previously reported to police.
"Anyone in that area who has had something unusual happen in the last 30 days we would like to know about it," he said.
Deputies were assisted by Emmett Township police and the Michigan State Police.
Deputies are conferring with Battle Creek police after city officers reported a home invasion and three break-ins during the last week.
- A resident from the first block of East Langley Road reported at 1:03 p.m. Sunday that someone kicked in her back door and stole a television, laptop computers and jewelry while she was attending church.
- A 54-year-old woman in the first block of Hiawatha Drive told Battle Creek police she woke about 5 a.m. Saturday and found a man in her bedroom. He grabbed her purse and jewelry box and ran from the house. A second man was outside.
- A 7:59 a.m. Thursday a man told police he received an alarm from his home in the 100 block of Frances Drive and when he arrived found a front door forced open and a television pulled from a living room wall.
- A back door was forced open at a home in the 300 block of Clover Lane. It was found at 2:45 p.m. June 11. Other information was not available from police.
Contact Trace Christenson at 269-966-0685 or tchrist@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on Twitter: @TSChristenson
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the WZZM 13 app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@wzzm13.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter.
