Fifth arrest made in violent Staten Island home invasion: NYPD
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. (PIX11) -- A fifth suspect has been arrested in connection with a violent home invasion on Staten Island last December that involved robbers allegedly pistol-whipping a woman and a 5-year-old girl, police said Friday.
Tyzay Bennet, 19, of Staten Island, was arrested and charged with burglary in connection with the Dec. 18 incident, according to the NYPD.
Four other suspects have already been arrested in connection to the burglary, police said.
Four masked gunmen stormed into a sleeping family’s home on Livingston Avenue in the dead of night. The robbery was captured on a home security video.
“I was sleeping, then I heard the door kicked in. I jumped up and saw three men with guns pointed at me,” Marlene Jones, the family's nanny recalled in an interview with PIX11 News in December.
“They went to the little girl’s room, pulled her out from her bed, hit her in the face with the gun, and then they took her in the mom’s room,” Jones said.
With her husband away for the night, the 33-year-old mother, who wished to remain anonymous, said she was also pistol-whipped in the face.
“The minute he brought [my daughter] to my room … when she showed up with the black eye, I thought he could kill us,” the mother said.
The robbers left the home with only a cellphone, police said.
Submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
Ben Mitchell is a digital content producer from Vermont who has covered both local and international news since 2021. He joined PIX11 in 2024. See more of his work here.