Four Wanted In Home Invasion

A midtown Tulsa neighborhood is on edge after a family is held hostage at gunpoint and robbed inside their own home.  It happened early Sunday morning and police admit they have few leads.  But, News On 6 anchor Terry Hood reports investigators think the men had been casing the neighborhood several days before the break-in.

"I saw them walk in that driveway and I didn't know whether they were at this house or that house, then I saw them walk back out and started coming this way," said Paul Poynor, who lives near 21^st and Lewis.

Paul Poynor thought it was unusual to see two men walk to the back of the house on Friday afternoon.  He says the men were wearing hooded sweatshirts and baggy pants and left him with an uneasy feeling.

"That's what I thought.  I thought that well enough where I said to lock the house up," said Paul Poynor.

Two days later at 6 o'clock on Sunday morning, four men removed the electrical box and broke in through the back door of the home.  Inside were a husband, wife and several young children.  Police say one of the men held the wife at gunpoint in the bedroom.

"Then, at that time, they marched the husband around the house taking various jewelry, some cash items, a TV, some computers," said Tulsa Police Sgt. Dave Walker.

The couple was then locked in a closet and the men left the scene.

Police think the men had been in this neighborhood near Utica Square for several days looking for a target. At one point, investigators say the men even approached the same house and pretended to be tree trimmers.

"They didn't look like tree trimmers; let me put it that way.  They were not tree trimmers," said Paul Poynor.

The incident has Paul Poynor worried.  He's already made a few changes around his home and plans to make more.

"Keep these dogs, lit up the backyard last night.  We have security lights around back and in the sides," said Paul Poynor.

Investigators aren't sure why the robbers chose that particular house.  Police expect the men to try to sell the items they stole:  computers, a television, and jewelry.

They're asking for anyone who sees anything unusual to give them a call.

Related story:

4/20/2008  Police Search For Home Invasion Suspects