4 armed suspects break into Mountlake Terrace home with family inside, stole car and electronics

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE, Wash. - Residents in Mountlake Terrace are on high alert after a home was broken into on Monday morning. 

Police say they were called just after 5:45 a.m. to a home in a neighborhood near Forest Crest Playfield Complex. Commander Scott King said four armed people broke into the home looking for valuables, mostly electronics.

The parents and two small children were in the home at the time. 

"There is no known connection between the victims and the suspects," King said. "This was a traumatic event for the family." 

The invasion has the entire community on edge, a fear never felt by residents like Rick Goodrich. 

"Oh, it's very quiet," Goodrich said. 

Goodrich has lived in the neighborhood for about 50 years and says it's a "nice neighborhood." He also said that despite what happened to his neighbors, his perception hasn't changed. He has a feeling those who violated their privacy are not "local." 

Fortunately, Goodrich was awake at the time of the break-in and was able to help. 

"She knocked on the door and was really upset." Goodrich said recounting how his neighbor ran up asking to borrow his phone because the thieves allegedly took hers.

He says he helped her call 911. Only then did he learn what happened. He heard his neighbor say, "they got in some way, and they came up to the bedrooms, and they had a gun."

Fortunately, the family was not hurt.

"It sounded to me like [it was] too well organized," Goodrich said. "When you get through a door and get upstairs and you're wearing masks, it takes malice and planning."

Aside from taking the family’s phones and other tech, police say the thieves stole the family’s 2011 blue two-door hardtop convertible BMW. It’s pretty recognizable: it has a metal Seahawks' emblem on the back and a "TWEEEZER" metal decal. 

Goodrich says he, like others in the neighborhood, are still rattled.

"I worry, why did they choose this house and why this neighborhood?" Goodrich said. "It leads to insecurity by everybody."

Police say there is no connection between the suspects and the family. The suspects took off in the family car, and their location remains unknown. Officers continue to canvass the neighborhood. 

If you have any information, you're urged to call 911.