A Southlake woman spoke exclusively to NBC 5 after two armed men broke into her home, and tried to rob her at gunpoint. The coordinated attack happened in a neighborhood near Highway 114 and Dove Road, just after noon on Tuesday.
A nice-looking guy came asking for help finding his lost dog. But in the 30 minutes that followed, a mother and her son were both held at gunpoint. Now they're speaking out to warn others -- keep your door closed.
The sounds of the city feel far away in Peggy Hanan’s Southlake neighborhood. There's a sense of peace and privacy on the tree-lined drives. But all that shattered for Hanon, when a stranger came knocking Tuesday afternoon.
"Nicely dressed, comes to my front door with flyers, looking for his mother's lost dog," Hanon said.
She was cautious, but the man saw a window when she opened the door to hand him a bottle of water.
"He took it, I closed the door and I was just like this about to lock the door when all of a sudden, he’s not turning to walk away, he’s opening the door with all his weight, pushes the door and pushes me in," said Hanon.
The armed man called for an accomplice by walkie-talkie and Hanon was tied up at gunpoint while the robbers demanded jewelry and other valuables. But the biggest scare came when her adult son walked in the door.
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"I turn around and I'm looking down the barrel of a rifle," Zak Hanon said.
He immediately ran up the stairs and made it to a balcony. He knew he had to get help.
"I jumped on the balcony, from the balcony I climbed on the roof and jumped 10, 12 feet," Zak Hanon said.
He hurt his leg on the jump down but didn't stop.
"I was jumping from back yard to back yard knocking on doors, trying to find someone," Hanon said,
Once he found a neighbor to call police, officers arrived quickly but Zak Hanon had already scared the two armed robbers away.
In the end, the family isn’t sure the gunmen stole anything, except their sense of safety.
"I just want to warn everybody to be so careful and don't open that door, even when somebody seems like they’re fine," Mrs. Hanon said.
Her son added, “I was one trigger pull away from being dead and that’s just super surreal. Knowing that your life is not in your control. That’s a terrible feeling.”
Mrs. Hanon said she always wants to answer the door when someone knocks to show she's home, usually that's enough to scare a burglar away. But what happened on Tuesday shows just how dangerous these two men could be.
The family thinks they took off in a black newer model GMC SUV. They’re described as two white men. One was in his 30s, six feet tall and heavyset. He was wearing a black and green cub scouts baseball cap, thin brown wireframe glasses, a button-down dress shirt and dark pants.
The other is in his early 20s, about 5 feet, 9 inches tall and slender. He was clean cut with his hair slicked back and wearing in a starched dress shirt and black pants, with a bandana or mask around his neck.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Southlake Police Detective J. Ellis at jdellis@ci.southlake.tx.us or 817-748-8123.
