Maybe it’s the economy. Maybe people are being driven to extreme measures out of need. Or maybe people some people are just plain no good.
Whatever the reason, the streets of Delaware County seem to be getting increasingly dangerous.
Suddenly home invasions appear to be the crime of choice. In Marple Township, police are looking for three armed men who barged into a home in a quiet Lawrence Park neighborhood, tied up a man and woman in their 60s, and then ransacked the house.
Luckily, the man was able to get loose, get out of the house and call police. But by then the suspects were long gone. Neither the man nor his wife were seriously injured, but their psyche, and that of the neighborhood, was shattered. In more and more neighborhoods it appears people’s vision of suburban safety is being increasingly threatened.
The Marple incident comes just a few days after a man and woman were held at gunpoint as they returned to their Middletown home. They surrendered their wallet and purse. The incident seems to be part of a trend in the western end of the county, where state police are investigating a series of robberies in Chadds Ford, Glen Mills and Middletown.
Police believe the duo simply walk up and knock on doors of homes they believe to be empty. If no one answers, they break in and rifle the house. In one instance, they got $19,000 worth of jewelry from a home in Middletown.
So far no one has been injured.
Hoa Pham and his wife were not as lucky.
An intruder barged into their Upper Darby home thinking they were not home, only to be confronted by the startled couple. The suspect then terrorized the couple for hours, brutally beating them. Pham died of his injuries. His wife was severely beaten. No suspects have been arrested in the case.
It came just a few weeks after a woman was killed in her Long Lane apartment, just a few blocks away.
The lesson? You can’t be too careful. Lock your doors. And your windows.
The streets are getting increasingly mean out there.
Whatever the reason, the streets of Delaware County seem to be getting increasingly dangerous.
Suddenly home invasions appear to be the crime of choice. In Marple Township, police are looking for three armed men who barged into a home in a quiet Lawrence Park neighborhood, tied up a man and woman in their 60s, and then ransacked the house.
Luckily, the man was able to get loose, get out of the house and call police. But by then the suspects were long gone. Neither the man nor his wife were seriously injured, but their psyche, and that of the neighborhood, was shattered. In more and more neighborhoods it appears people’s vision of suburban safety is being increasingly threatened.
The Marple incident comes just a few days after a man and woman were held at gunpoint as they returned to their Middletown home. They surrendered their wallet and purse. The incident seems to be part of a trend in the western end of the county, where state police are investigating a series of robberies in Chadds Ford, Glen Mills and Middletown.
Police believe the duo simply walk up and knock on doors of homes they believe to be empty. If no one answers, they break in and rifle the house. In one instance, they got $19,000 worth of jewelry from a home in Middletown.
So far no one has been injured.
Hoa Pham and his wife were not as lucky.
An intruder barged into their Upper Darby home thinking they were not home, only to be confronted by the startled couple. The suspect then terrorized the couple for hours, brutally beating them. Pham died of his injuries. His wife was severely beaten. No suspects have been arrested in the case.
It came just a few weeks after a woman was killed in her Long Lane apartment, just a few blocks away.
The lesson? You can’t be too careful. Lock your doors. And your windows.
The streets are getting increasingly mean out there.
Comments