Census-less killing: Fake census worker invades home
VIDEO - "The man was dressed in a suit and tie," resident Katherine Haynes said. "When my son cracked the door, he grabbed him by the neck and put a gun to his head."...
A man posed as a Census worker before a home invasion that turned deadly in Houston, Texas.
Katherine Haynes said a man posed as a census worker Saturday afternoon before two men armed with guns barged their way in her home demanding money.
“The man was dressed in a suit and tie,” resident Katherine Haynes said. “When my son cracked the door, he grabbed him by the neck and put a gun to his head.”
Haynes said she, her son and her son’s girlfriend were beaten and tied up after two other men barged into the home in the 400 block of Truman Street and demanded money on Saturday.
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“They kept asking about a safe, but I told them we didn’t have a safe, and they must be mistaken,” she said. “I gave them $3,000 and said I would take them to an ATM to give them more if they would just spare our lives.”
Haynes said they were left upstairs, while the thieves waited for her husband to get home. Haynes said he was tortured for two hours.
“They beat him and stabbed him and then they submerged him under water. That’s when I didn’t hear him any more. He put up a good fight,” she said.
The attackers eventually left and Reginald “Pete” Haynes, who worked for the city for eight years, died at the hospital.
Haynes said she and her son got a good look at one of the men.
“One of them was light-skinned with three tear drops bellow his left eye,” she said.
The trio got away in a white or cream extended cab Chevrolet Silverado with tinted windows, police said.
Government officials said there are ways to correctly identify Census workers.
“They should have a badge with their name on it, and a messenger bag with the Department of Commerce seal,” said Eduardo Guity with the U.S. Census Bureau. “Most importantly, a Census worker will never ask to come into your home.”
