Suffolk County police are investigating a pair of armed home invasions seven miles and two hours apart over the weekend that brought the number of such cases in the past month to 11.
In the first of the most recent cases, two men broke into a Pleasantview Court home in Copiague, flashed a gun, demanded money and pistol-whipped a man inside at 9:20 p.m. Friday, police said. The suspects, described only as black men, fled with cash and property, police said.
Then at 11:40 p.m. Friday, three armed men kicked in the back door of a North 17th Street home in Wyandanch, stole money from the victims inside and fled the scene. The trio was only described as a group of Hispanic men.
A police spokesman could not confirm initial reports that the suspects were armed with a pistol and a machete but did say there have been no arrests in either case. It was unclear if there were any injuries in the second case.
The pair of Feb. 15 cases bring into the double digits the number of armed home invasions in Suffolk since Jan. 15, when there were five such incidents in a week in Mastic, North Lindenhurst, Dix Hills, Huntington and Coram. There were five arrested in the Huntington case and three arrested in the North Lindenhurt case.
A sixth armed home invasion was reported in Gordon Heights on Jan. 25, two days before a 21-year-old man was gunned down by home invaders in Flanders.
Three people have been arrested for the eighth armed home invasion in Halesite on Feb. 5 and another trio has been charged with the ninth home invasion in Central Islip in the early morning hours of Feb. 7.
Police are continuing the investigations.
