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Police say a group of cable-TV contractors are behind a violent home invasion in Prince George's County and those men are still on the loose tonight.
A wounded, handcuffed man busted through the bedroom window of his Regency Park apartment in Suitland Wednesday morning, trying to escape armed intruders who apparently posed as cable-TV repairmen to gain access to his home, according to witnesses and police.
Witnesses say it began about 9:00 a.m. when two men dressed as cable-TV installers pulled up in a white van outside the apartment complex in the 5600 block of Regency Park Court.
In fact, the TV hub outside the targeted apartment was left open and several wires had been cut by the supposed cable guys before the home invasion, It was as though they were pretending to do work or to use the broken system as a ruse to get into the apartment.
Shortly afterwards, there was the sound of gunfire.
The victim, who was handcuffed and had been shot in the stomach, apparently tried to flee the intruders by jumping through a window.
"He had handcuffs on, and I can say he broke out the window in the bedroom there and he had the handcuffs on," said neighbor Marvin King. "He rolled over, got up, and called the police."
The victim's wound was not considered life threatening.
At the same time, King saw a man run out of the apartment door and jump into a van. That's when he realized the suspects were the men he'd seen arrive in a cable-TV repair van. Witnesses spotted the two uniformed men, both about 30, fleeing the scene. One fled on foot and the other in the vehicle.
"That's terrible; it's devious -- It just doesn't make any sense," said neighbor Davika Hover, referring to the apparent imposters. "It's unfortunate for his family."
It's unclear whether the men were involved in the incident, or were simply fled when they heard gunfire. Police did put out a lookout for the cable-TV van, and are checking to see if any such vehicle had been reported stolen.
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