CHANNELVIEW, Texas – This Independence Day, a Marine Corps veteran is crediting his military training for helping him get through a violent home invasion early Monday morning.
The 80-year-old said he remained calm and complied while, not only being attacked by thieves in the night, but also robbed of thousands of dollars and valuables.
“Eighty years old and then have to deal with something like this,” said Lee Rooker.
He’s spending his Fourth of July recovering after a violent invasion and robbery at his mobile home on Avenue C in Channelview.
“They’re professionals, they know what they’re doing,” he said.
Rooker said when the thieves tried to break into his home around 2 a.m., he yelled out that he would call the police, but within 10 seconds, they were able to break the deadbolt lock and get inside. The next thing he knew, he was being assaulted.
“I was on my futon, I raised up… guy comes in and he popped me in my eye,” Rooker recalled. “That’s when he got down in my face. Both had on ski masks.”
Rooker said threats followed the assault.
“He says, ‘Old man, I’m not here to hurt you, but I will if I have to, and I’ll shoot you if I have to,’” he said.
He said he believed the two thieves were tipped off by someone who had been in his home because they seemed to know exactly what to look for.
“There was $1,006 in my wallet. Ok, they were happy with that. Starts to walk away and says, ‘Wait a minute, what about the Walmart bag?’ There are only two people who know about that Walmart bag,” Rooker said.
It’s where he said he had $2,000 stashed.
“He (one of the thieves) reached around that chair where the Walmart bag was hidden. Picked it right up, came over here, dumped it out, says ‘This is what we’re looking for. Bingo,’” he said.
All in all, Rooker said the thieves were able to get away with more than $3,000 in cash and some gold he had been collecting, but what he said made matters even worse was the slow response from Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputies.
“That’ll show you exactly how many times I called 911, which is five times,” Rooker said while pointing to the call log on his cellphone.
He said officials finally showed up five hours later and took a report.
Anyone with information is asked to give them a call, but as for Rooker, he said he’s going to find a safer place to stay.
SIMILAR STORIES