Source: Violent home invasion near Temple was retaliatory
A 20-year-old man who was pistol-whipped and robbed at gunpoint had had bad dealings with a neighbor, said an official from the building's management.
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TWO PUNKS terrorized a group of Temple University students Sunday night in a violent home invasion that university officials said was "not a random act."
Last night, an official with Newport Property Group, which manages the building, said the victims believe that the attack was retaliatory, payback for a previous spat between one of them and a neighborhood hoodlum.
The official spoke with the Daily News on condition of anonymity.
The incident happened at 7:30 p.m. at an apartment on 18th Street near Berks, just a block off campus, when two gunmen forced their way into the home, police said.
Once inside, the robbers, who covered their faces with handkerchiefs, subdued six people with zip-ties, police said.
The bandits then singled out another victim, a 20-year-old man who lives at the home, said Brandon Lausch, a spokesman for the university.
They beat the student in the head repeatedly with the butt of a gun while screaming at him to open his safe and hand over the loot inside, Lausch said.
The gunmen made off with the contents of the safe - which police did not disclose - as well as some of the home's electronics and the students' cellphones and wallets, Lausch said.
The burglars - described as black men, one wearing a hooded sweatshirt with "Bucks County Community College" written on the front - fled in a white car.
The pistol-whipped student was treated at Hahnemann University Hospital for a minor cut and bruises to his head, police said. The other victims - four 18-year-old women, a 19-year-old woman and a 19-year-old man - weren't injured.
Another resident of the home was in his upstairs bedroom at the time and missed the ordeal, his headphones drowning out the commotion downstairs.
The Newport official said the injured student believed he was targeted after some sour dealings with neighborhood residents.
"You can see him hanging out with the neighborhood crowd all the time, being loud and making a spectacle of his presence there," the official said.
"He made a lot of attention, and it led to them being robbed and hurt."
About a week ago, the student got into a fight with another man - a neighbor who doesn't attend Temple - inside the apartment, and kicked him out when things got heated, the official said.
"He pissed someone off, and then a little bit later, all of a sudden he gets robbed," the official said. "It's pretty easy to tell they were targeted."
Police reported no arrests as of last night.