Kids duct taped, dad pistol-whipped during robbery in Morganton, police say

A family in Burke County, including two young children, was tied up and put in a closet during a home invasion robbery. It happened early Saturday morning at a home on Tate Street in Morganton.

Channel 9′s Dave Faherty learned the family was temporarily staying at that home. The mother said they were staying with a friend while their house was being built when they awakened to guns pointed at them.

Police said three men wearing ski masks kicked in a door to get inside the home. Police said two of the three suspects were armed.

Investigators said the father was pistol-whipped and the mother was assaulted in a bedroom of the home. Faherty learned their 6 and 7-year-old children also had their hands and mouths duct taped and were put into a closet of the home.

Faherty spoke with the mother by phone Monday, who told him her family is fortunate to be alive. She said they were able to get to a neighbor’s home to get help.

“The only thing I can say is it was traumatic,” she said. “Looking back now, I don’t know why we are still living. I woke up with an AR-15 pointed to my head and I watched as they pistol-whipped my husband.”