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Police Arrest Suspect In Assault On Elderly Woman

MIAMI (CBS4) - Gun-toting Police officers and SWAT team members swarmed all over a Miami neighborhood and took a young suspect into custody after an 83-year-old woman was beaten and robbed during a home invasion.

"I am very nervous and I am scared," said Maria Chiu. She says the man who was captured blocks from her apartment at Lejeune Road and S.W. 5th St---after SWAT team members went door to door----both terrified her and hurt her.

"Yes," she told CBS4's Peter D'Oench. "He hurt my back and my buttocks."

Miami Police sealed off several blocks from S.W. 4th St. to S.W. 5th Terrace and from 42nd Ave. (Lejeune Road) west to 44th Ave. for nearly three hours until the suspect was captured around 11 a.m.

Residents were warned not to leave their homes and other residents who wanted to return home were kept away by Police, who were on the lookout for an armed suspect and who had their shotguns and weapons drawn in case they were fired at.

It lead to some very tense moments inside the perimeter of the sealed-off neighborhood after the suspect was seen running through a series of back yards. With shotguns raised, SWAT team members knocked on doors and scoured dozens of back yards.

"My concern is my boyfriend," said Natasha Rojas. "He's home alone with our dog. And I'm a little preoccupied."

Chiu told D'Oench it was just after 8 Wednesday morning when the suspect came to her apartment.

"He opened the door a little bit," said Chiu. "He stuck his hand in. He said he was a plumber. I told him to see the apartment manager. He told me, 'I brought my own tools.' He also said, 'I need a knife to scrape the walls.'

I thought I'd be safe since I offered him food. I offered him breakfast. Then he pushes me and says, 'Shut up. I have a weapon.' "
Chiu was robbed.

"He came up and took my TV and my computer. He took stuff from my bedroom. Two rings, twenty dollars and two bracelets."

The suspect, who has not been identified, was chased by a neighbor, leaving behind Chiu's TV and her purse near her apartment.

"Thank God, she lived," said Angel Lastra, the victim's son. "She's alive. That's important to me. You have to be careful in this neighborhood."

Chiu told D'Oench that nothing like this has ever happened to her before. She's grateful that she was not seriously injured. And she promises to be very careful the next time anyone knocks on her door.

"You have to be careful, very careful," she said.

Miami Police spokeswoman Kenia Reyes says charges are pending against the suspect.

"I'm glad they caught him," Chiu said. "He told me he had a weapon. I identified him in front of Police."

"It's lucky that this woman is alive today," said Reyes. "But the streets here in Miami were cordoned off for three hours. He not just endangered her but endangered others because he was considered to be armed and dangerous."

"Here's a young man in his 20s who attacked an 83-year-old woman in her own home," said Reyes.

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