GERMANTOWN, Md. - Montgomery County (web | news) police are investigating a violent armed robbery and home invasion in Germantown.

Shortly after midnight on Thursday morning, at a home in the 18000 block of Sage Way, residents heard a knock at the door.

"There wasn't no pounding or barging in the door -- it was like a knock on the door, a quiet knock on the door," Pat Armold recalled.

When her son Josh answered, he says, he found three men pointing guns in his face. "The put the gun in my face, and I took the gun and put it in the air, and they threw me down and started beating me profusely," Josh Armold said.

They forced their way into the home as Josh Armold tried to fight them off. Then they bound Armold, his mother Pat, and roommate Christopher Thomas with duct tape and dragged them to a bathroom.

Josh Armold said, "They tied me up, and I broke out of the first ties, and they grabbed me up and started  beating me again and tying me back up."

A butcher knife was found 100 yards away from the house. Thomas told ABC 7's Pamela Brown that it was held against his throat. "They had a knife to my throat and a gun to his mom's head, in this little teeny-tiny bathroom... and said, 'Here's your choice. You make the choice. Do you want to watch her brains splattered all over the inside of this bathroom or do you want her to watch you bleed out?'" Thomas said.

Josh Armold was treated and released from a local hospital after receiving cracked ribs and a concussion.

The victims also said that the intruders demanded to know the location of a safe they believed to be in the house. Since there is no safe in the home, the victims believe the men attacked the wrong house. Thomas said, "He said, 'Are you kidding me? We have to kill these guys because we robbed the wrong house?'"

The suspects are described as dark-skinned black males. One suspect was described as standing 6 feet tall while the two others were shorter. The were wearing masks and black clothing and armed with handguns.

Police say the home was ransacked and several items of value were taken. All three victims say they're still shaken up and no longer feel safe.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the Montgomery County Police at 301-279-8000.

 

 

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