HOUSTON -- A man forced his way into a southeast Houston apartment Monday, sexually assaulted a grandmother and then kidnapped the woman's family, including a baby, to rob them, police told Local 2.

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Neighbors React To News About Resident's Attack

One of the victims told police she had just returned to the Park Place Villa Apartments, located at 7525 Park Place, at about 8:15 a.m. after dropping off a child at school.

"She had just gotten home and apparently the suspect, he was around here. I don't know how he came to be here, but that's what the scenario was," said Bobby Roberts with HPD's sex crimes unit.

She said that a man armed with a butcher knife followed her inside her apartment and sexually assaulted her mother before forcing the woman and her two-month-old baby into a car. Police said the sexual assault victim was not kidnapped.

The woman told Local 2 that the man threatened to kill the infant if they did not cooperate. The victims, who speak only Spanish, had trouble understanding the attacker's demands because he spoke English.

She said the man put the knife at her throat and forced her to drive to ATMs for cash. They eventually ended up at the Kroger's grocery store on Telephone Road at Bellfort Boulevard.

"They drove to a couple of ATM machines where they withdrew money from ATM machines and, at that point, the suspect got out of the vehicle. We're still looking for him right now," Roberts said.

Police said the victim apparently told someone inside the grocery store that she needed help. The man fled the scene.

The woman and baby were not injured. The grandmother was taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation.

Two southeast Houston schools were placed under lockdown as police searched the surrounding area for the man.

Cornelius Elementary, 7475 Westover, and Hartman Middle School, 7111 Westover, went into lockdown mode at about 8:15 a.m.

The lockdown was lifted shortly before noon when police determined the man was no longer in the area.

Authorities released a vague description of the attacker. The man was wearing a blue-checkered shirt, blue jeans with side pockets. He was also seen putting on a light-colored shirt to cover up the blue shirt.

Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at (713) 222-TIPS.