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THREAT ASSESSMENT: Home Invasion Robberies
September 05, 2007 18 54  GMT

Introduction

In the early morning hours of July 22, two men entered the home of Dr. William Petit Jr. and his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, in Cheshire, Conn., an affluent suburb of New Haven. Petit, his wife and his two daughters were brutalized, bound and held hostage for several hours. Later in the morning, one of the assailants accompanied Petit's wife to a bank and forced her to withdraw $15,000. After returning to the house and strangling her, the suspects set the house on fire to cover their escape in the Petits' sport utility vehicle. Having been alerted by a suspicious bank teller, local police blocked the escape. Petit managed to get out of the burning house, but his daughters died inside.

The attack in Connecticut was only the latest brutal incident in a series of home invasion robberies targeting affluent families. NBA stars Antoine Walker and Eddy Curry in Chicago, socialite Anne Bass in Connecticut and philanthropist Ernest Rady in California also have been victimized in recent months. These events indicate that home invasion robberies, once occurring predominantly among low-income households, have become a security concern for more upper- and middle-income communities.

Home Invasion Robberies

A home invasion robbery (HIR) is a crime combining elements of kidnapping and robbery. It is usually a violent burglary conducted without stealth, since the robber is actively seeking a confrontation with the victim. This mind-set directly contradicts the mind-sets of most thieves, who usually try to avoid any contact with their victims. The appeal of an HIR, as opposed to ordinary burglary, is that the presence of the victims and the threat of violence can result in more lucrative heists.

Whereas the ordinary burglar can enter a home through stealth and usually take only what is readily available, the home invasion robber can torment the victims and obtain information about safes and their combinations and hidden stashes of money. HIRs occur throughout the United States and in many foreign countries, particularly in Africa and Latin America. Asian and Hispanic immigrant communities in the United States also have a long history of HIRs, usually involving violent gangs shaking down well-to-do merchants from their same ethnic group.

The following five case studies illuminate the details of this expanding criminal phenomenon.

Case 1: The Petit Home Invasion
On July 22, two men slipped into the home of Dr. William Petit Jr. and his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, in the affluent New Haven, Conn., suburb of Cheshire. The assailants might have selected the Petits at random after observing Hawke-Petit and one of her daughters leaving a supermarket. The suspects allegedly followed the Petits home, noted the location of the house and returned after purchasing an air rifle and rope to lay in wait about a mile and a half away. They waited until about 3 a.m. local time and then reportedly entered the house through an unlocked door. It is not known whether the Petits had an alarm system.

Once inside, the robbers attacked the family, beating Petit and throwing him down the stairs to the cellar, where he was left bound and gagged. Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, ages 11 and 17, were tied up and at least one of them was repeatedly sexually assaulted until about 9 a.m., when one of the assailants drove with Hawke-Petit to a nearby bank and forced her to withdraw cash. While making the withdrawal, Hawke-Petit was able to communicate to bank employees that she was under duress, prompting one of the tellers to contact the police.

After they retuned to the Petit home, Hawke-Petit was strangled and the house was set on fire with gasoline that the culprits had purchased at some point. Police arrived as the house was burning and the robbers sought to escape by crashing through a police roadblock in the Petits' sport utility vehicle. After the collision, which disabled the getaway car, police apprehended the suspects.

Petit escaped the fire by hopping up the cellar stairs and out of the burning house. One of the daughters was later found dead from smoke inhalation at the top of the main stairs, indicating she might have been trying to escape when she was overcome by smoke. The other daughter was found still tied to her bed, burned so badly that the cause of death could not immediately be determined. Hawke-Petit's body was found on the first floor.

The Petit home invasion clearly represents a worst-case scenario involving extreme violence leading to death. The apparent randomness and brutality of the Petit home invasion dramatically underscores the need for strong security precautions in affluent homes, even in quiet suburbs.

Case 2: The NBA Home Invasions
High-profile individuals also are at risk of home invasion. Unlike many high-net worth individuals who prefer to maintain low public profiles, information about the homes of celebrity actors and athletes is easier to come by precisely because of their celebrity. Many TV shows actually show the interiors of their homes, with their affluence on conspicuous display. Even if celebrities try to maintain relatively low profiles, their fame makes them stand out, even in neighborhoods full of affluent individuals.

On July 9, 2007, three masked men forced their way into Miami Heat basketball player Antoine Walker's home in Chicago's affluent River North neighborhood. Walker, who grew up in Chicago's South Side, was bound with duct tape and robbed at gunpoint after the men approached him in his garage at about 5:30 p.m. local time. During the home invasion, a friend of Walker's entered the house and was also tied up by the robbers, who took cash, jewelry and Walker's black Mercedes-Benz, which was found abandoned the next morning.

Less than two weeks later, a similar home invasion occurred at the house of New York Knicks center Eddy Curry. Three masked men entered the home on an exclusive cul-de-sac in Chicago's Burr Ridge neighborhood at approximately 12:15 a.m. local time July 28 and held Curry, his wife and an employee at gunpoint while tying them up with duct tape. The assailants stole cash and jewelry before fleeing the scene.

There were no injuries during either incident, but their similarities suggest that an HIR gang is targeting the homes of professional athletes in the Chicago area. This illustrates another aspect of HIRs: They tend to occur in a series, often going on until the gang is caught. Serial home invasions are more commonly aimed at lower-income targets; targeting multiple high-profile individuals is more rare.

Case 3: The Bass Home Invasion
On April 16, three masked assailants forced their way into the home of Anne Bass, a Manhattan socialite and the ex-wife of billionaire investor Sid Bass, in the affluent community of Kent, Conn. The robbers held Bass, her boyfriend and her 4-year-old grandchild hostage for approximately 12 hours as they threatened and robbed the couple. The assailants tied up Bass and her boyfriend, Julian Lethbridge, put hoods over their heads, injected them with an unknown blue substance they later claimed was a virus and made them drink a bitter beverage. The robbers then attempted to extort $8 million from Bass, saying they would give them the antidote in exchange for the money.

Bass told the assailants she had no large sums of money in the house, and that she could not realistically withdraw such a large sum in a timely fashion without raising suspicion. In an effort to get rid of the attackers as quickly as possible, Bass reportedly tried to reach an accommodation with them, offering more practical alternatives to get them money. She and Lethbridge reportedly were beaten and held while the robbers ransacked the house, eventually making off with some cash and her black Jeep Cherokee. The police were summoned after the attackers left, and Bass and Lethbridge were taken to New Milford Hospital. They were tested and briefly quarantined for biological contamination before being released after nothing out of the ordinary was discovered in their systems.

The Bass home invasion had many of the classic elements of the crime, with the disturbing addition of the forced injection of a substance into the victims' bodies. So far, no arrests have been reported in connection with the case, but four days after the invasion, an accordion case washed up in Jamaica Bay, N.Y. The case, which appeared to have been used by the assailants in the robbery, contained a gun that appeared to be a toy, gloves and three cigar-sized aluminum tubes containing syringes -- one with a needle still attached to it and containing a blue liquid. The case also contained a laminated card with several phone numbers found to be related to Bass, suggesting the assailants had done some in-depth pre-operational planning or surveillance. Two days later, Bass's Jeep Cherokee was discovered in New York and seized by police for forensic testing.

Case 4: The Rady Home Invasion
In February, a man appeared at the front door of wealthy businessman Ernest Rady's house in the affluent La Jolla area of San Diego, claiming to have documents for Rady's wife to sign. Mr. Rady was away from the premises at the time. When the housekeeper opened the door, the man forced his way into the house. After demanding cash and discovering there was little in the house, he used a stun gun to subdue Mrs. Rady and the housekeeper, tying them up before thoroughly searching the house. Rady arrived home two hours later and was also hit with a stun gun, bound and gagged. Rady, his wife and their housekeeper were held captive for more than five hours in the home. The robber eventually left the house with only a small amount of cash.

The Radys had, until a few years ago, avoided publicity. Starting in 2004, gifts totaling $90 million -- to the School of Management at the University of California, San Diego, which then named the school after Rady, and San Diego's Children's Hospital -- made headlines. This media coverage could have brought the Radys to the attention of their attacker. In addition to the publicity from his philanthropy, Rady's status as a billionaire and a former leader of two prominent Jewish organizations were reason enough for him to take steps to secure his home against criminals motivated by anti-Semitism or greed.

Despite Rady's prominence, security at his residence was light or nonexistent. The property reportedly had no locked gates, security guards or guard dogs. This made it easy for the intruder to gain entry to the home and operate unhampered for hours.

Case 5: The Wichita Massacre
Home invasions occur across socioeconomic and ethnic lines that can target low-, middle- and high-income people. One of the most horrifying examples of a home invasion against a middle-income target became known as the "Wichita Massacre." In December 2000, two intruders entered a triplex residence -- apparently picked at random -- in Wichita, Kan., occupied by three men being visited by two female friends.

The intruders spent several hours beating, robbing and sexually violating the house's inhabitants. Hours later, they drove their nude and seminude victims to a snow-covered field and shot them execution-style before running over them with a truck. They then returned to the house to steal more items, killing a dog belonging to one of the victims in the process. One of the women survived, and the two intruders were arrested and subsequently convicted of capital murder, rape, robbery and animal cruelty, and sentenced to die.

The Characteristics of Home Invasion

In general, a home invasion does not just happen out of the blue. Some degree of planning, even a few minutes' worth, goes into the action. An HIR typically occurs in five stages. The first stage is planning and the other four involve the actual invasion. The target could be selected based on inside knowledge or independent research about the victims and their wealth, or almost at random based on only a cursory look at the target. Once the target is selected, the robbers surveil it to assess its defenses and devise the best way to gain entry. In the planning stage, target selection and pre-operational surveillance is carried out. This could be done weeks before the attack if it is carefully planned, or in the few minutes preceding the invasion if the attack is random.

The actual invasion begins in the second stage, when the robbers seize control of the house using overwhelming force and shock. This is almost always sudden and violent. During the second stage, the robbers ascertain what items of value are in the house and collect them. After that phase, the perpetrators tend to the disposition of victims or witnesses. If the robbers feel secure and in control of the situation during this stage, they might brutalize the victims, kill them to prevent identification or leave them to be found alive later. Finally, the robbers make their escape, usually leaving the scene after taking precautions to prevent the victims from notifying authorities or pursuing them.

Interestingly, HIRs are carried out similarly to how law enforcement personnel execute search warrants. When executing the warrant, overwhelming force and shock are used to gain entry to the residence. Then, the occupants are controlled and restrained if necessary. Only after the site has been swept for any individuals who might be hiding is it considered safe to begin looking for evidence.

Most ordinary burglaries require some prior knowledge of the victim or victims' home and schedule. Of course, some targets are chosen spontaneously, with little or no pre-operational planning. But for the most part, a potential burglar needs to be aware of whether there is an alarm system; if so, how to circumvent the alarm; and where valuables are kept within the house. They typically stake out their victims in advance in order to get a feel for their routines, specifically the times when they are most likely to be away from home. HIRs require the same kind of preparation as a burglary, but go one step further since there is an element of kidnapping in their plans. A robber needs to go beyond cursory surveillance of his intended victim or victims and do an extensive study of their routine and home. A home invasion robber must also plot out the robbery in more detail and include a way to restrain or control victims during the operation.

Kidnapping is generally done quickly: The victim is grabbed and then taken away. The kidnapping aspect of an HIR does not play out in the same way. Instead, more time is needed to get what the robber wants. The robber must either snatch the victim and remain in the home long enough to steal the valuables he is really after, or sit and wait for the victim to come home. This kind of tactic was displayed during the Anne Bass home invasion; Bass and Lethbridge were tied up and held over a 12-hour period, requiring a huge time commitment on the part of the robbers. While in control of the residence, the intruders have the time and privacy to make the ordeal potentially very dangerous for the victims.

HIR is similar to another kind of violent extortion scheme known as a "tiger kidnapping," or the abduction or seizure of one or more people with access to a company's cash or valuables, such as bank employees and managers, credit union staff, restaurant owners, business owners, truck drivers, jewelers and wealthy people. In most cases, the family members, friends or associates will be threatened with bodily harm unless the target delivers the goods to the kidnappers. Like in an HIR, the private residence of the victim is invaded in a tiger kidnapping and those within the home are threatened with violence if they fail to comply with the kidnappers'/robbers' demands. Both the Wichita and Petit home invasions had elements of tiger kidnapping, in that one perpetrator escorted a victim from the residence to obtain money or goods from another location while an accomplice remained in the house to threaten the family or friends of the victim.

In the Bass case, the victims later reported that the robbers appeared to be articulate and to have had some secondary education. They apparently came prepared and, according to Bass, gave the impression of operating like military commandos but were not excessively violent. In the Petit case, the assailants were career criminals who carried out the robbery with very little planning and seemed to have little regard for the consequences of their actions.

While each HIR is unique, several common threads have been observed. Overall, most home invasions occur in middle- to low-income households, with the robbers entering though the front door. HIRs most often occur at night or on weekends, when the perpetrators expect their victims to be home. The robbers are usually armed and operate in groups of two or more. These HIRs targeting middle- to low- income victims often occur in sprees, with the serial robbers typically preying on socioeconomic or ethnic communities with which they are familiar. In most cases, those carrying out serial HIRs also develop preferences for settings where they feel comfortable, such as apartments versus single-family homes.

Random HIRs are very rare. Pre-operational surveillance is almost always conducted. Because of the inherently confrontational nature of home invasions, the robbers have to be sure they do not encounter armed or potentially combative homeowners or guard dogs. Inside knowledge is often part of the home invasion planning process. For low- and middle-income victims, this knowledge might come from an acquaintance of the perpetrator. For high-net worth victims, the criminals' knowledge frequently comes from household staff or a contractor who has had access to the house at some point.

Recommendations for Minimizing Risks

Strategies for reducing the risk of an HIR involve enhancing physical security, protecting personal information and vetting household staff. Visible signs of enhanced physical security at the residence or around high-profile individuals will discourage potential attackers and could send them looking for softer targets. High-profile individuals should take steps to keep personal information private to avoid drawing the attention of potential attackers, making it difficult for them to gather information that could be used to plan an HIR. Thorough vetting of household staff -- including their acquaintances -- reduces the likelihood of an "inside job" being planned and carried out.

The measures to reduce vulnerability to HIRs include:

# Use of protective details, especially around the residence

# A countersurveillance component, which is more effective than traditional protection to thwart home invasions; perpetrators conducting pre-operational surveillance are at risk of being spotted by a skilled countersurveillance detail, thwarting the invasion

# Restrictions on the publication or distribution of any potentially sensitive information, such as income, donations, daily routines, security arrangements and home layout

# Restrictions on other personal information regarding the family, including pictures and details of residents' schedules

# Thorough background checks of household staff:

1. Particularly of nannies, contractors, handymen and any other staff members with access to the premises
2. Background checks should extend to spouses or boyfriends/girlfriends, as well as to immediate family
3. Anyone with a criminal record should be monitored and made known to the security team
4. Periodic updates on household staff and their close acquaintances should be conducted
# Consideration of technological security measures -- such as home alarms and multiple "panic" buttons, both hardwired and portable -- to alert authorities deployed in a discreet fashion to prevent potential assailants from neutralizing them

# Vetting and escorting of vendors or service personnel with access to the estate; all contractors should be screened for criminal backgrounds and monitored, as should any laborers or employees with access to the home

# Careful protection of security alarm codes and keys to the home

# Confidentiality measures for all travel arrangements, arrival and departure dates, length of absences, etc.


Home security systems, especially those that include audible alarms and enhanced emergency lighting, are a critical but often underutilized security asset. In fact, the most glaring security flaws are in home security systems. Wealthy people often spend tens of thousands of dollars or more on electronic home security systems, but because the systems are sometimes complicated to use, often broken or too prone to false alarms, many simply leave them off.

In addition to a home security system, a safe room can offer protection once a home invasion has started. A safe room is a small windowless space designed and installed by a professional that can be completely secured from the rest of the house. Safe rooms can be discreetly installed in walk-in closets or bathrooms. Family members, including children, should practice using safe rooms as a matter of routine. A "panic" alarm -- with a cellular backup -- that has a different signal from those of other alarms in the house also should be part of the safe room's equipment in order to alert authorities and let first responders know the family has gone to the safe room. Having a stand-alone backup power source is advisable in case the primary power source is cut. It might also be prudent to keep a weapon, such as a shotgun, in the safe room as a last line of defense. In most cases, using these rooms is preferable to attempting to run from the residence in the event of a break-in, as running could further expose the residents to the intruders.

Survival Once an Attack Begins

Unlike abductions, in which the kidnappers have a stake in keeping the victim alive -- at least until a ransom is received -- the perpetrators of HIRs are often career criminals who give little thought to the consequences of their actions. They can be just as likely -- and even more likely -- to kill their victims as to allow them to live.

The initial phase of the home invasion -- during which the robbers take control by use of overwhelming force and shock -- affords the best chance for victims to resist or escape. Unlike crimes perpetrated away from home, because a home invasion occurs at the victim's house, the idea of running away or escaping might not occur to the victim. If resistance is not possible during the initial stage of an HIR, a good course of action is to simulate compliance until or unless physical attacks begin. Once attacks begin, and once it appears that no other options remain, every effort should be made to resist and escape. Victims should be willing to trade wounds for certain death.

In some cases, the victims might outnumber the robbers. If this is so, victims should seriously consider rushing their attackers. In the Wichita Massacre, one of the assailants left the other assailant alone with four of the victims while the former took one of the female victims to an automated teller machine to withdraw cash. The three male victims thus apparently missed an opportunity to rush the other assailant while the first was occupied with one of the female victims. Even if shots are fired, most criminals are poor marksmen, and at the very least the noise could alert neighbors to the crime. In any case, the robbers are unlikely to remain in the house after such noise is made. As a final warning of victims' need to flee or resist, it should be remembered that despite the Wichita Massacre victims' efforts to cooperate and humanize themselves to their attackers, they were all shot in the head, run over and left for dead.

Conclusion

An HIR occurs every day in the United States. These crimes affect people in all economic classes -- meaning low-income, middle-income and upper-income individuals and their families are all vulnerable. HIR victims are liable to be seriously hurt or killed. Despite this bleak picture, there are ways to reduce the risk of becoming a victim of an HIR, as well as measures that can be taken to mitigate the danger if one occurs.

These are going to continue to increase in frequency as the invasion of America continues.

Lawlessness breeds lawlessness.