Police searching for suspects in Hercules home invasion

HERCULES, Calif. (KGO) -- An East Bay family is taking new steps to protect their home after a group of robbers broke into their house in the middle of the day.

"I eat with my son and watching TV and I heard the door 'boom!' and I come out," said Chanti Duong, describing how a group of masked men kicked in his front door around noon on Tuesday and attacked him with a crowbar.

"He tried to hit me!" Duong pointed to scratch and bruise on his arm and explained that a second robber kept the first man from hitting him again. But then Duong said the robber with the crowbar threatened him, "He said, don't move, I will hit you and kill you if you move."

Duong says he was terrified for his wife and 2-year-old son, who were watching as the robbers ransacked their home, looking for valuables.

Duong said they asked for money and jewelry and he explained to them that he didn't have any, but to take whetever they wanted.

"He took a small box," said Duong. "I don't know what is inside."

"It's scary because you know it's so close," said Leah Deguzman, who lives up the street from the Duongs on Fremont Court, a tucked away cul-de-sac in Hercules. "I never thought it will happen in this neighborhood because it's pretty quiet," explained Deguzman, who's lived on the block for 30 years.

Parked near Duong's house at the time of the robbery, another neighbor spotted what police now believe is the suspects' car.

Sgt. Joseph Vasquez with the Hercules Police Department described the car as a newer model black Chrysler 300, with tinted windows.

"There have been other reports of a vehicle similar to this description involved in other criminal activity, so this is definitely something we want people to be aware of," said Sgt. Vasquez.

Now, after 20 years in his home, which he often left unlocked, Duong installed a new security door and is looking into surveillance cameras and a large fence for his front patio.