Crime & Safety

Laurelwood Residents React to Armed Cranberry Home Invasion

Police are searching for three men who forced their way into a residence and tied up five of the occupants.

Current and former residents of the Village of Laurelwood apartment complex in Cranberry normally consider the neighborhood a safe place to live, according to comments made on the Cranberry Patch Facebook page.

“We feel or felt safe here until the incident last night, especially because we have a lot of kids in the complex,” commented reader Erika De Guzman.

On Thursday, three armed men forced their way into a townhouse in the apartment community and demanded drugs and money from the five occupants.

Find out what's happening in Cranberrywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

After tying up the occupants, all construction workers temporarily living in the Pittsburgh area, the suspects ransacked the townhouse.

Within 15 minutes of the break in, two other occupants arriving home and surprised the suspects, who were carrying at least one long gun and a handgun. The occupants fled and dialed 911. After at least one of the robbers chased the returning occupants, the suspects left the area.

Find out what's happening in Cranberrywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Cranberry Police continue to search for the robbers. They are described as one black man and two white men. No other identifying information is available at this time, police said. The type of vehicle the robbers were driving also has not been determined.

Anyone with information related to the robbery is asked to contact Cranberry Police at 724-776-5180.

For the full story on the home invasion, click here.

On the Cranberry Patch Facebook page, several residents discussed safety at the apartment complex.

Kami Palacios, who lived in Laurelwood for two years close to a decade ago, said her only safety complaint was a door to the building that would open without a key—if you pulled hard enough.

“But other then that, there were no issues that I felt unsafe with, or I would have moved sooner,” she commented.

Kelly Benyacko echoed Palacios comments about the building’s main doors.

“I also felt it could have been better lit along the main drive,” she commented.

What do you think about the home invasion? Do you feel safe in the community? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.