Two young mothers fended off home intruders with pepper spray as their young daughter was in the Harlem home. Wale Aliyu reports.
Police say one of them knocked on the door of the 23-year-old and 25-year-old victims' apartment. When they opened it, one of the men told the couple wanted to speak with them; he tried to force open the door, cops say.
"I heard them saying to my wife, 'Can we talk?' and I'm like, who is going to knock on someone's door asking if we can talk?" one of the victims said.
The four suspects then calmly took the elevator back down and walked out to West 131st Street.
It wasn't until News 4 showed the victims surveillance video of the suspects on Friday that they realized there were four attackers.
"It's crazy because you now show me the video, and I never knew that was four of them," one of the women said, crying. "And it could have been worse for us. We have an autistic daughter."
"This is something I cannot talk about calmly," she said. "Look, this is bad. I have the shakes."
She wondered why her family was targeted, saying, "We're a gay couple? Or could it be they found out it was just three girls living here? I don't know but it's scary."
The family has been left traumatized by the ordeal and are frightened to even leave their home.
"We don't want to go outside. We don't even go outside, if we do, it's in the morning, then we close the door and nothing else, no more."
The couple has lived in the apartment for about three years and have no clue who the men are or why they tried to invade their home. Anyone who recognizes them is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.