SOUTH BEND — City police are investigating three home invasions that happened within a 24-hour period Tuesday and Wednesday.

A man, who was apparently alone, was arrested after the first one and Capt. Phil Trent of the South Bend Police Department said that incident doesn’t appear to be related to the other two.

However, Trent said police will have to look at some similarities between the other two.

The latest one was reported about 11:10 a.m. Wednesday at a home in the 1100 block of North Cleveland Avenue.

Police said the man who lives at the home told them three men forced their way in through the back door.

The victim said one man, who had a gun, demanded, "Give me the money now."

The victim said he told his assailants he didn’t have any money and went to a bedroom.

The man with the gun had just forced the bedroom door open and fired a shot into the room when another man in the house said "Let’s go," according to police.

The three men then left.

Police said a man and woman at a home in the 400 block of South Taylor Street told them three men forced their way into the house about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

They also said shots were fired but nobody was hurt.

According to the police report, the man and woman in the home jumped from a second-floor window to escape with the woman injuring her ankle.

Trent said there is some time and distance between the two home invasions. But he said there were three males involved in both and the method of operation was the same.

The home invasion he said was completely separate happened shortly before 1 p.m. Tuesday when a woman in the 400 block of South Gladstone Street hid under the bed and called 911 after a man with a gun burst into her home through the back door.

Police later arrested a man about a block from the home.

Staff writer Sue Lowe:
slowe@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6557