‘Flower Sellers’ Invade House, Steal Handgun

Two men forced their way into a house at gunpoint Monday, stealing a semiautomatic handgun from a bedroom before fleeing, police said.

No one was injured in the home-invasion robbery shortly after 1 p.m. in the 300 block of North Chantilly Street, said Lt. Ray Welch.

Welch said the men approached the house and yelled through the front door that they were selling flowers. When Maria Lepe, 42, opened the door, the men covered their faces with ski masks and pushed their way into the house, Welch said.

The four people in the house--Elena Valle, 69, her daughter, Lepe, and Lepe’s daughters--then ran into a bedroom, Welch said. During the next few minutes, the two men ransacked the home and took a 9-millimeter handgun from a bedroom, Welch said. It was not immediately known who the gun was registered to.

While the men were in other rooms of the single-story house, Lepe and an 11-year-old daughter managed to escape to call police, Welch said. When the robbers saw that the two had fled, they ran out of the house.

At some point Lepe and her daughter split up and were able to use different phones in neighbors’ homes, Welch said.

The daughter called police first, telling a dispatcher she thought her mother had been shot. However, no shots were fired, Welch said.

A few minutes later, Lepe called police and also reported the robbery.

Police late Monday had not made any arrests in connection with the robbery.