Gunmen Rape 4 Women at Home; 1 Suspect Held
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LANCASTER — Masked gunmen raped four women Friday after bursting into a Lancaster condominium and tying up the young women’s male companions, sheriff’s deputies said.
Deputies arrested a 29-year-old man at a motel several hours later on suspicion of the assault, and were looking for his alleged accomplice late Friday.
The two gunmen surprised the gathering by barging through an unlocked door at 1:30 a.m., brandishing a handgun and threatening the eight people inside, said Detective Sgt. Jerry Wolf of the Antelope Valley sheriff’s station.
One of the gunmen fired a shot, but the bullet did not strike anyone, authorities said. The gathering was terrorized for several hours before the gunmen fled with cash and personal property, deputies said.
The Antelope Valley sheriff’s station received a call on the incident at 4 a.m.
“We’ve had . . . home-invasion robberies,” Wolf said, “but nothing like this.”
Arrested at his home at a Lancaster motel was Jeffrey Allen Smith, whose parole photo was picked out of a book by the victims, Lt. Ed Dvorak said.
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