HOUSTON – It is a Christmas morning a Southeastern Houston family will never forget.
It began at the Sterling Court Apartments about 4 a.m. Christmas morning on Minnesota Street near Almeda Genoa Road.
A woman who asked not to be identified was awoken by the frantic sound of someone hitting the doorbell over and over again.
The woman said she was at home with her 70-year-old mother, 6-year-old daughter and a friend. She said her friend opened the door, thinking someone was in trouble outside, when three young men, wearing hooded sweatshirts and waving pistols, charged into her home and began barking out orders.
“He was pointing the gun right in my face and was waving it and just telling me to just lay down, lay down and be still. My daughter was in my arms buried in my chest, I was almost laying on top of her to protect her,” she said.
The woman said the robbers ripped the family’s 42-inch wide-screen television off the wall, started stacking up Christmas presents and rifled through her mother’s purse.
She said the most terrifying part is when the gunman looked her right in the eye and said “if you try to call the police we will kill all of you.”
The woman said she feared she would be killed, but she was going to protect her young daughter above all else.
“I was scared for my life, I was scared for my daughter’s life. I mean, who would bust in on a family on Christmas of all things?” she said.
The episode lasted five minutes.
Houston police are investigating this case.
The victim and her family are just thankful to be alive and unhurt.
“I have my mom, I have my daughter and I’m still breathing. I can’t be too upset about this,” she said.
The gunmen are described as young, between 18 and 25 years old, wearing hooded sweatshirts and carrying handguns.
If you have any information on who these gunmen may be, you can call Houston police.