Party-Goers Terrorized by Two Armed Robbers

Westminster police Friday were seeking two gunmen who terrorized a bachelorette party Thursday night, holding nine women and two children hostage for four hours and later beating and robbing the women’s husbands and boyfriends when they returned to the house.

No serious injuries were reported, although the hostess’s family dog was killed by the intruders because it would not stop barking, police said.

According to a 31-year-old woman for whom the party was being held, the celebration was just winding down about 9:30 p.m. when two men with masks and sawed-off shotguns burst in through a rear door of the house, in the 5100 block of Rotherham Circle.

The woman, who asked that her name not be used, said the men, described only as white and in their late 20s or early 30s, bound all the women with duct tape and electrical cord. She said eight of the women were kept in an upstairs bedroom while the hostess was locked in a downstairs bathroom with her two children.

The gunmen then robbed the women of their money and jewelry, she said. The men remained in the house, she said, after she told them they should leave “before the guys get back.” The spouses and boyfriends of the women had gone out for the evening.

“They said, ‘We’ll just wait for the boys,’ ” the woman said.

During the wait, the captors treated the women politely and did not abuse them, said another woman who was present.

“They kept getting us drinks and made sure the (bindings) weren’t on too tight,” she said. “These guys were very bizarre.”

However, she said the family dog, Ferrari, kept barking, and the men told the women to either quiet the dog or they would kill it. When the dog, a white husky, would not stop barking, she said, “they took him in a bathroom and slit his throat.”

Neighbors said they did not hear the dog barking or anything else unusual that night.

One of the men who was robbed said he and about eight of his friends had no inkling of what was going on when they entered the front door of the house. He said they were hit over the head with the shotguns, one by one, as they walked into the living room.

He said the men were then tied up and herded into different rooms of the house and stripped of money, jewelry and other valuables.

Westminster Police Lt. Mike Schliskey said about $4,500 in money and goods was reported stolen altogether. Despite the bizarre sequence of events, Schliskey said police had no reason at this point to doubt the women’s story.

“There was a dead animal at the scene, and there appeared to have been a robbery,” Schliskey said.

The woman for whom the party was thrown said the gunmen finally left about 1:55 a.m.

“When they left, they said to give them five minutes before calling the police,” the woman said. “I gave them 30 seconds.”