Members of a Great Falls family were bound with duct tape after a group of Asian males invaded their home early Wednesday morning.
Fairfax County police are uncertain whether three or four men invaded the home, in the 9600 block of Georgetown Pike, but they said the suspects have been described as Asian men dressed in black, wearing hoods and masks.
A neighbor called the police around 6:44 a.m. Wednesday when one of the victims came out of the house, hands bound and mouth closed with duct tape.
The victims included two women, 54 and 32; a 4-year-old girl; and a 5-year-old boy. One of the women and the children are residents of the house. All were bound in the same fashion and have some minor injuries, but nothing requiring hospitalization, according to police.
“We have not heard of any specific suspects or any damage to the house,” said Mary Mulrenan, spokeswoman for the Fairfax County Police Department.
“Home invasion robberies, in general, are not common in Great Falls,” Mulrenan said. “There might be one every three or four months.”
It is unknown what was taken from the house, and the amount of money was taken from the victims is not being disclosed, she said.
Residents of Great Falls are surprised that such a crime happened in their sleepy community and can’t remember an invasion like this happening before.
“I drove by the house when I was taking my son to school and it looked like a movie set, with all the news cameras there,” said Denis Yaro, a resident of Great Falls for 7 1/2 years.
“I WAS WATCHING the TV in my home office, and I saw the helicopter flying over,” said Rick Heilbrunn. “This stuff doesn’t happen here. The only time a helicopter flies over is if someone important is coming into D.C.”
“I don’t think anyone in Great Falls thinks about things like this happening, everyone’s so aware of their neighbors,” Yaro said.
Houses are usually a field or large yard apart, but “neighbors are very neighborly,” Heilbrunn said, keeping an eye out for each other and their children.
“After that happened, the FYI network lit up,” he said, referencing a local information network run via e-mail and message boards that serves as a community connector in Great Falls. “We have a good relationship with the police, and information spreads fast because even though we’re spread out, we have to be aware,” he said.
The men said they don’t necessarily feel less safe or have any plans to change their lives drastically in the wake of the invasion.
“I thought to myself, what do I need to change, it could’ve been my house,” Yaro said.
“There are some things, like locking doors, that we do as a matter of habit because we used to live in a city,” Heilbrunn said. “But it’s not uncommon for people to leave their garage doors open or keep doors unlocked.”
Neither of the men knew the family involved or had heard anything about any suspects Thursday morning.
“I heard it was a highly targeted incident,” Heilbrunn said.
Yaro agreed, adding that because both the victims and suspects are of Asian descent, it may have been a specifically planned crime.
“I’m glad no one got hurt, but it was horrible, like something right out of a TV show,” he said. “This got everyone’s attention.”
Gretchen Cioffi of Leesburg was spending some time with a friend of hers who had just had a baby in Great Falls, and she is concerned for her friend.
“She’s home during the day,” Cioffi said. “This was very shocking. This doesn’t happen in Leesburg.”
She took some reassurance from the seemingly isolated incident. “I heard it was an Asian family and suspects, and I’ve heard of that happening before. I hope it was a targeted incident and not something random,” she said.
“I still feel safe at home,” Cioffi said, a lifetime resident of Loudoun County.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Fairfax County Police at 703-691-2131 or Crime Solvers at 1-800-673-2777, and all calls will remain anonymous.