Calgary police are searching for suspects involved in a pair of home invasions early Tuesday morning that sent two people to hospital.
The first took place in the community of Springbank Hill at around 12:30 a.m.
Investigators said multiple men forced their way into a home in the 0-100 block of Springborough Point S.W.
“The suspects demanded money from the victim before striking him with an object and fleeing with money and personal property,” police said in a Tuesday news release.
EMS said the victim was treated at the scene for minor injuries.
The second home invasion happened in Mayland Heights at around 2:50 a.m.
Officers were called to a home in the 600 block of 19 Street N.E. after two masked men broke down the door of the house and assaulted the men inside.
Resident Rene Decoteau told Global News he was asleep when the suspects broke into the home he shares with a roommate.
“I heard all this banging from downstairs, the next thing you know … the door came down,” he said.
“Two guys [came] flying up the stairs, put a 12 inch knife to my throat and started demanding money and weed.”
“I said ‘I don’t have any money and I don’t have any weed and I don’t know what you’re talking about,'” Decoteau said. “My roommate got up and locked himself in the bathroom.”
“They were patting me down… I thought he was going to cut my throat.”
Decoteau said his roommate called out to him to call 911, at which time the intruders broke into the bathroom. While the intruders were distracted, Decoteau ran outside where he fell and broke his arm but managed to call 911.
According to Decoteau, his roommate was hit over the head, which police confirmed, saying it appeared he had been hit with a blunt object like a baseball bat or pipe.
Decoteau was treated for his injuries at a downtown clinic.
His roommate, who police said was stabbed, was transported to the Foothills Medical Centre in serious but non-life-threatening condition.
When asked if he knew why anyone would break into his home, Decoteau said he had no idea.
Staff Sgt. Travis Baker with the Calgary police said, “there is definitely similarities in the victimology that we are seeing that would lead us to believe they knew who they were going after.” He wouldn’t comment specifically on what those similarities were.
Police said the description of the suspects involved in both are the same; a man in his mid-20s, about 5’9″ tall with a slim build a goatee and a moustache, wearing a grey hoodie and blue jeans – and a second man about 6′ tall with a red and black hoodie.
“The timeline is very close. They went from one location almost directly to the other one,” Baker said. “We do believe that they are linked based on the descriptions and the M.O.”
It’s not known what, if anything, was taken from either home.
“At this time police believe the incidents are not random in nature, however, the investigation into what motivated the incidents is still ongoing,” police said.
Anyone with information on either home invasion is asked to call Calgary police or contact Crime Stoppers.