PORT HUENEME — Identifying themselves as police officers, two men burst into a Port Hueneme home Monday morning, terrorized its occupants and robbed them at gunpoint, authorities said.
The men made off with more than $20,000 in cash and jewelry, most of which was stored in a safe inside a bedroom closet.
About 7:20 a.m., the men, dressed in black jackets with chest patches, knocked on the unlocked front door of the victims' home in the 1700 block of North 6th Place and entered, saying they had a search warrant. One of the men displayed a badge and brandished a small revolver, police said.
One robber put his gun to the head of a 64-year-old man and forced him into a bathroom. The pair then removed his 63-year-old wife from a shower, allowed her to dress and forced her at gunpoint to open the safe, according to police.
The couple's 18-year-old son was made to stay in his bed. A fourth family member, the woman's elderly father, was in a side yard and unaware of the robbery, which authorities said took no more than 10 minutes.
While the teenager and his parents were kept out of sight, the men ransacked the small house and quickly found the safe in an open closet. Port Hueneme Police Det. Christina Alvarez said there was initial speculation the robbers knew about the safe beforehand, but she added that finding it could have been chance.
"It would have been easy for them to have noticed that the safe was there," Alvarez said. "They didn't just go directly to the safe."
Sgt. Ken Dobbe said he would not rule out that the house was targeted because of the safe.
"I just can't see this house being picked out of the blue," said Dobbe, adding that it was similar to many other homes in the neighborhood. "It's a cookie-cutter house."
Though a daylight home-invasion robbery is unusual, Alvarez said the robbers could have chosen the time because they knew the residents would be awake and that the door would probably be unlocked.
The first robber is described as a Latino, 26 to 30 years old, 5 foot 6 to 5 foot 9 and weighing 180 pounds. Police say he has black hair, blue eyes and is light-skinned and cleanshaven. He spoke to the victims, who are also Latino, in both Spanish and English.
The second robber is described as a Latino with light brown hair who was wearing a black baseball cap. He spoke only English.
The weapon was a dark-colored revolver of unknown caliber. No vehicle was seen.
