A teenaged girl at home alone might have been the latest innocent victim of the city's drug industry. She was unharmed but shaken when a troop of armed and masked thugs invaded her home.
"It appears that the suspects realized that they may have targeted a wrong address and left without physically harming the victim," said Prince George RCMP spokesman Cpl. Craig Douglass. "That is our assertion, not the victim's. There are parts of this investigation that lead our investigators to believe they were targeting a place and suddenly realized they hit the wrong place. There is direct evidence we have that leads us to this conclusion."
While there is no direct evidence that the invaders were part of the underworld of addiction - they demanded money from the victim, not drugs - Douglass said "it is reasonable speculation that they are involved in the drug trade. Most crime in Prince George relates back to the drug trade."
Usually, during Prince George home invasions, the victims are part of the drug trade as well as the perpetrators, and in many instances are directly known to one another. An innocent residence being victimized like this is rare, Douglass said, but highly concerning.
"There is no home invasion that is better than another," he said. "We don't want either kind to happen. Even if a drug dealer is the target or you are involved in that lifestyle, it is still not OK for someone to threaten harm to you or invade your home."
The girl in this case was 17. The home was in the 2400 block of Upland Street.
"[She] reported that as many as five males entered the residence after the victim answered a knock at the door. One male had a hand gun and was demanding money," Douglass said.
It was not disclosed if they obtained any money or other valuables from the girl's home.
Three of the suspects are described as:
- First Nations male, 6'2" (188 cm), chubby, with brown eyes and acne on both cheeks;
- Caucasian male, tall, skinny wearing a black bandana that covered most of his face;
- Caucasian male, tall, wearing a green bandana that covered his mouth and nose.
If you have any information about this criminal offense, please contact the Prince George RCMP at 250-561-3300 or anonymously contact Crime Stoppers at 1(800)222-TIPS (8477), online at www.pgcrimestoppers.bc.ca, or Text-A-Tip to CRIMES using keyword "pgtips".
