Suffolk County police are investigating a pair of armed home invasions six hours and 22 miles apart last week.
In the first case, two men forced their way into an apartment on Floyd Street in Deer Park and pistol-whipped a woman who was a visitor shortly before 2 p.m. Tuesday, police said.
Then shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday, three men armed with handguns forced their way into a home on Southaven Avenue in Medford and confronted a resident inside, police said.
The attackers in the first case stole a cell phone. The assailants in the second case made off with cash, cigarettes and an iPod.
There were neither arrests nor description of the suspects in either case. Police do not believe the two to be linked.
The back-to-back cases come after a string of 13 armed home invasions in Suffolk in the first three months of this year, three of which involved shootings, one fatal.
Nassau County police meanwhile have reported seven armed home invasions so far this year.
They include unsolved cases in North Woodmere this week, in Elmont last week, as well as three in March in Baldwin, Roosevelt and Hempstead.
Nassau police also arrested alleged home invasion suspects last month in Farmingdale and three attempted Elmont home invasion suspects in February.
