New Jersey Family Beaten as Drug-Seeking Burglars Break Into Wrong Home

A northern New Jersey man jumped through a glass door to save his family after masked gunmen broke into his home and beat him, his wife and one of his two young children in what police say appears to be a targeted drug robbery at the wrong house.

The man told NBC 4 New York he was asleep in his house on 19th Street in Union City early Thursday when four men broke in, woke him up and demanded drugs and money. Police say the burglars had probably intended to break into a different home.

“They said, 'Give me the money and the drugs,” the man said. “I said 'Listen, you got the wrong house.'"

The man was punched, pistol-whipped and beaten with a crowbar in his bed before the suspects tied him up. The even talked about killing him, he said. 

"They said, 'That guy's too tough, kill him,'" he said. 

Some of the gunmen took his wife, 8-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son into another room, where they were also attacked, the man said. The man heard his wife's screams as she was punched in the face and his daughter was was hit in the head with a screwdriver.

That’s when the man said he tossed himself through the door in an attempt to save his family. He ran to a neighbor’s house and called police.

The suspects left before police arrived, making off with about $300 and cell phones.

Anyone with information about the attack is asked to call the North Bergen Police Department at (201) 392-2093.

Contact Us