Police are investigating a report of a home invasion robbery after a Watauga man reported several subjects forced their way into his home Tuesday morning.
Around 6 p.m. on Tuesday, officers of the Carter County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to a home on Piney Flats Road in Watauga. Upon arrival, officers spoke with a 21-year-old man who said he had been robbed and assaulted while inside his home.
“(The man) advised that some time in the morning approximately around 4:30, he heard multiple kicks on the back door and people shouting ‘DTF, DTF, DTF,’” CCSO Deputy Eric Norman said in his report. “(The man) then got up from his couch and made his way to the door.”
Before the man reached his door, he said the suspects kicked the door down and sprayed him in the face with what he believed was pepper spray, Norman said.
“(The man) was then thrown to the floor in his kitchen and the suspects zip tied his hands behind his back while holding him at gunpoint,” Norman said. “The suspects then took the cushions off (the man’s) couch and put them over the back of his head while he was on the floor.”
The man told officers the suspects continuously asked him where he was keeping something. The suspects then went through the man’s home and located a safe and demanded the man give them the combination, Norman said.
The suspects were able to get into the safe, the man reported, and took a large amount of cash from inside. The man reported the suspects also stole a pistol from his home, money from his wallet and a Samsung cell phone.
According to Norman’s report on the incident, the man told officers he knew who the suspects were by their voices and the part of their faces he could see as their faces were partly covered with bandanas.
Norman said he called for CCSO Investigator Travis Ludlow to come to the scene to assist with evidence collection and investigation.