Snohomish County prosecutors have charged two men, including one from Mountlake Terrace, with first-degree burglary for their involvement in a home-invasion burglary Jan. 31 in Mountlake Terrace.
Jorrell A. Hicks, 22, of Mountlake Terrace and Michael Hernandez, 21, of Marysville, were arrested Feb. 6 following a morning raid by Mountlake Terrace police at a house at 23504 54th St. SW in which Hicks was arrested without incident. Police arrested Hernandez a few hours later at the south Everett business where he worked.
The arrests stem from the Jan. 31 home invasion, in which a masked Hicks and Hernandez are alleged to have forced their way at gunpoint into a house in the 22000 block of 57th Ave. West and Hernandez is alleged to have struck a 16-year-old boy with a gun.
According to a police report, shortly before 9 a.m. Jan. 31 two men, one described by victims as white, the other as black, knocked on the door of a house at 22000 block of 57th Ave. W, and Hernandez allegedly pointed a gun at the face of a woman who answered the door.
Hicks and Hernandez allegedly asked to see a 16-year-old teenager, the woman’s son, then forced their way into the house, pushing the woman out of the way, the report said.
Hicks approached the teen’s father, who was sitting at a desk in the living room, put his arm around him and “tried to shake his hand,” the report said.
Hernandez confronted the teen in the doorway of his bedroom, then yelled at him, accusing the teen of stealing $1,500 from him at an apartment complex. The suspect struck the teen in the face with the gun, according to the report.
The teen told officers the two suspects “quickly fled from the house” when his father said he was “going to get his gun and call 911.”
Police said the teenager and suspects knew each other, though they don’t know exactly how they know each other. The suspects and teen victim all have criminal histories, police said.
“Sometimes people make the mistake of thinking people are their friends when they’re really not,” Mountlake Terrace Det. Sgt. Doug Hansen said.
A Brier police officer on patrol detained both suspects a block away shortly after the home-invasion burglary, but victims couldn’t immediately identify them, said assistant police chief Pete Caw.
Later, the victims told police they could identify the suspects and found a picture of one of them on MySpace.com.
With that information, officers were able to get a court order to enter the house on 54th Street Southwest, Caw said.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
