Masked man kept victim tied up for more than an hour in terrifying home invasion

ATLANTA — A Buckhead neighborhood is on edge after police say a masked man tied up and robbed a woman inside her own home.

The victim, who asked not to be identified, told Channel 2’s Matt Johnson that she has never felt unsafe in her neighborhood until this terrifying robbery that lasted for more than an hour.

“I thought, ‘Before he leaves he's going to shoot me,’” the victim said.

The homeowner said she thought she was going to die while tied up during the home invasion.

“He grabbed me around my neck and held a gun to my temple and said, 'C’mon,'” the victim told Johnson.

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Th woman said she came home Friday around 8 p.m. and a masked robber was waiting for her.

“I turned around and there the guy was and he was yelling at me to come, go with him to the basement and open the safe,” the victim said.

It happened at her home in the Peachtree Heights neighborhood off Peachtree Road.

She says the robber ordered her around the house while pointing her own gun at her.

“He put a hood over my head and laid my head on a pillow and, at that point, I thought he was going to shoot me,” the victim told Johnson.

She said the robber was in her house for an hour and fifteen minutes.

“The reason he stayed and stayed and stayed is he was waiting on driving, he kept calling his driver,” the victim said.

The homeowner told Johnson that she escaped by kicking her basement door open and running to a neighbor's house for help.

A $40,000 Cartier watch is just one of the pieces the jewelry the victim hopes to get back.

The victim wants Atlanta police to find her intruder, but says she may not be in the city for much longer.

“I want to leave Atlanta. I don’t want to live down here anymore,” the homeowner said.

Johnson was there as the crews upgraded the homeowners security system on Tuesday.

Atlanta police told Johnson that they've added patrols in the neighborhood and that this case is a priority for them.

Cox Media Group