OREM, Utah (ABC 4 News) - Police in Orem surrounded a home on Thursday afternoon trying to arrest a number of suspects they believe were responsible for a violent home invasion earlier in the day.
According to police, the home invasion that happened early Thursday morning at a home in northeast Orem.
Police say three suspects, described as Black or Polynesian males, entered the home through an
unlocked door.
Five people were sleeping in the upstairs portion of the home at the time of the robbery. Once inside the home, police say the suspects kicked in bedroom doors and began assaulting the people as they lay in bed, demanding that they get up and move to the living room.
Police say one victim, a 19-year-old man, resisted and was hit several times with a baseball bat, which caused bleeding wounds to his head and shoulder; he was also it on his back.
Police say the victims were forced to crawl into the living room on their hands and knees and then kneel in a circle facing each other while one of the suspects covered them with a handgun, terrorizing them by moving around the circle and pointing a gun at the back of each victim's head, threatening to kill them if they didn't tell them where the drugs and money were.
According to police, the suspects then spent nearly 45 minutes gathering up all the electronic equipment in the home they could, TV's, Computer, Xbox equipment, Cameras, cell phones, etc, and carting that stuff out to a vehicle outside.
Police say the victims were then put inside a bathroom and told if they came out before the suspects left, or called the authorities, they [the suspect] would come back and kill them all.
Police were notified when two of the victims went to the hospital for treatment. One victim needed many stitches to close the wound on his head.
Officers say some of the victims were petrified of even talking to the police out of fear the suspects would return and carry out their threat to kill the victims.
Officers say they did get enough information to put out a general attempt to locate on a vehicle occupied by three black or polynesian males.
According to police,
one suspect, a black male, had his mask fall off and was described by one of the victims as about 6'4", thin, and wore braces on his teeth.
Not long after that alert went out over the air, police say two alert Utah Valley University police officers spotted an early 90's model Oldsmobile Cutlass pass them at 1200 West Center.
Officers say the car was occupied by several individuals with dark complexions. Police say the UVU officers followed the car, and the suspects quickly pulled into the trailer park at 155 S. 1200 West and turned off the car's headlights.
Police say the suspects were able to avoid the two officers trailing them but were forced to flee the vehicle on foot.
Police say The UVU officers located the abandoned car and inside found all of the stolen items from the home invasion robbery, along with a bat covered in blood and the handgun.
Police say that by tracking the vehicle's registration, they were able to contact registered owner who told officers that her 18-year-old daughter had taken the car without permission and was possibly with 19-year-old Jacob Pele Falo, of Orem.
Police say Falo is currently wanted on a $250,000 warrant for parole violation stemming from an aggravated robbery conviction in Salt Lake City.
Police say that by using cell phone GPS technology, investigators were able to track the movements of the suspects until they landed at an apartment in the area of 1150 West 675 North.
According to police, over the next four hours, Orem officers and members of the Orem-Provo-BYU Metro Swat Team surrounded the apartment and negotiated with the people inside.
Police say neighbors nearby were contacted and escorted away from the area before negotiations began and went to relatives' homes or were invited to stay at Orem Fire Station #3 during the standoff.
Police say that at about 3:00 PM, the last two suspects, including Jacob Falo, came out of the apartment. They had been hiding up in the attic, but decided to come out on their own. No one was hurt during the incident, according to police.
Investigators say they are questioning the four men and one 18-year-old woman who were at the home. One of the suspects is a tall, thin 17-year-old Black teenager who wears braces.
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by raevan
