Video shows armed burglars tiptoeing around sleeping kids inside home

Brevard deputies investigate Rockledge break-in

ROCKLEDGE, Fla. – Home surveillance video captured images of two armed men burglarizing a Rockledge house while the people inside, including two children, slept, deputies said.

Officials with the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office are now trying to identify the men. The burglary took place about 1:30 a.m. Saturday at a home on Matthew Drive.

“My wife, she's still shaking,” homeowner Al Vera said. “When I saw (the video), my jaw dropped.”

A burglar is seen pushing his way inside and creeping around in the darkness, surveying what to steal. Just feet away were Vera's two sleeping grandchildren, ages 10 and 13.

One of the men appeared to be in his early 20s, between 5 foot 10 and 6 feet tall, with black hair. He wore a light-colored striped shirt, fingerless gloves and light-colored pants, and had some facial hair, deputies said. He was the one seen on the video walking around the house, including in an area where the kids were asleep, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Another man can be seen on camera waiting at a doorway with a handgun, taking the stolen property, officials said. He’s described as wearing a light-colored beanie, a dark-colored jacket and light-colored pants.

The men stole a stainless steel, .38 special revolver from the victims’ vehicle, along with several credit cards and a cellphone taken from inside the home. Officials said a white SUV, possibly an early 2000s model, was spotted in the neighborhood around the same time as the burglary.

Vera was shocked when he reviewed the surveillance tape.

“(The kids) were all in the living room sleeping, and he just walks right around in between them,” Vera said. “My bedroom is right over there. He was right there, but he never opened the door.”

The burglar made his way around the living room and then the kitchen before he decided to take the sleeping child's cellphone. His lookout stood just outside the front door, aiming his gun inside, keeping cover.

“God forbid, what could've happened if one of us got up? They robbed my gun, my GPS — on my door (where) I keep my credit cards (and) my wallet,” Vera said. “They stole all that.”

Vera said when he looked through the video, he noticed the men came inside the house multiple times, and then he saw even more men in his driveway, inside his car.

“There's like, three guys going through the car while he's inside the house,” Vera said. “They're ransacking the car still.”

The video captured two other figures outside.

A neighbor said he heard something strange happen at his house the same night.

“(I) just woke up (and) heard something jiggle my door — maybe a five-second jiggle,” neighbor Benji Cox said. “Went back to bed, next thing I know, (the) next morning I wake up and their house had got hit.”

Since the break-in, Vera has installed new locks around the house and said he plans to add more lights outside.

“They better stay away from here, because I am armed and I’m putting measures now where I will be alerted if someone is prowling out here," Vera said.

Deputies are looking for two burglars, but said there might be more.

Sheriff’s investigators ask anyone with information to call Agent Maria Fernez at 321-633-7162, or CRIMELINE at 800-423-TIPS.


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