GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A Gwinnett County father told masked gunmen they would have to kill him before he’d leave his 3-year-old son alone with them during a terrifying home invasion.
Doorbell camera video captured two masked men banging on the front door while shouting they were with the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office executing a search warrant.
The incident happened around 1:30 a.m. Dec. 5 at a residence off New Hope Road near Lawrenceville.
When the father’s 20-year-old son approached the door after hearing the banging, the men forced their way inside and held the family at gunpoint, according to a police report.
Upstairs, the father was lying in bed with his 3-year-old son when the suspects burst into his bedroom with guns drawn, he said.
“Two dudes pointing guns, masked dude saying ‘police department, search warrant,’” the father said, asking to remain anonymous. “So I stand up and am looking, I see it’s not the police, this is the robbers.”
When the gunmen ordered him downstairs and demanded he leave his toddler behind, the father refused.
“Man, y’all might as well go ahead and shoot me now. I’m not fixing to leave my son up with y’all,” he told them.
The suspects allowed him to carry his son downstairs, where his other three children—ages 12, 19, and 20—were already lying face down at gunpoint, he said.
“When I get downstairs to the bottom floor, I see my other three kids laid down with masked gunmen pointing at them too,” he said.
Police say the men ransacked the home for roughly 20 to 30 minutes, stealing cash and electronics. The father says he has no idea why his family was targeted.
“I think they got some misinformation or something and that made them target my house,” he said.
After weeks of surveillance, the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office arrested 23-year-old Samuel Baxter last Thursday and GCPD arrested 23-year-old Devin Bowers on Jan. 12.
Both face charges including home invasion, kidnapping, armed robbery, and aggravated assault and remain in jail without bond.
The father now warns neighbors about people impersonating law enforcement.
“If someone comes to your house, all black or whatever, saying police department, don’t let ‘em in,” he said. “Go ahead and call the police immediately.”
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