Robbers stole peace of mind of an entire neighborhood

Someone called 911 on Nov. 3 to report three men walking on the street in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis. They were "casing" houses, the caller told police at 9:10 p.m. Twenty minutes later, a police squad was sent to investigate.

It was too late.

By that time, the three men were burglarizing a nearby home, climbing on patio furniture to get in through a small window that had been opened to air out the kitchen after dinner. Grabbing butcher knives off a counter, the masked robbers burst into a nearby room, surprising the homeowner, who was playing the piano.

This was the incident that set off a round of recent worries about violent crime in the districts bordering Lake of the Isles, neighborhoods that have been safer than most.

The homeowner who was playing the piano when he was overwhelmed is named Mike. He is an artist who has lived in the Summit Avenue home for 24 years with his wife and sons. He and his wife wanted to be identified only by their first names because of concerns for their safety.

Word of the home invasion spread through the neighborhood, including rumors that Mike owned a gun, but that the gun was taken by the robbers and turned against him.

True, but there was more to it than that. The gun debate is not simple, and it won't be ended by what happened to Mike.

Mike did not have guns for self-defense. He's a pheasant hunter who had three guns locked in a basement cabinet that the robbers overlooked. If they saved Mike's life, it's not because he wielded them. But because he yielded them.

Mike was alone (his wife, Jane, was at a concert) when the robbers burst in as he was playing Beethoven's Sonata No. 5. He had no time to react.

"I could have had an Uzi, and it wouldn't have done any good," he says. "I was pounced on."

Mike was knocked on the floor by the robbers, who put knives to his throat, threatened to kill him and started filling paper bags with valuables: Jewelry (including rings that belonged to Jane's parents), a laptop computer, a BlackBerry, house keys. They rolled up a Persian rug and took that, too.

"We're not rich," Mike says. "I said, 'There's nothing in this house worth dying for. You can have anything you find. Take whatever you want. I'll help you find it, if you want.' "

But the robbers wanted more than they could find. They were becoming threatening, so Mike tried to calm them by revealing that he had guns they could add to their haul.

The robbers led Mike at knifepoint to the basement and made him open the cabinet where he kept a shotgun, a rifle and an old pistol. Then they loaded the guns with ammunition, tied Mike up, and pointed his guns at his head.

Victim thought it was all over

"I thought they were going to shoot me," he says. "I was telling them I had kids, and they didn't need to shoot me, but they were tying me up. I thought I was going to die."

Thankfully, the robbers did not shoot Mike that night, telling him he "could stay [alive] with your family." They put the stolen goods in Jane's car, which they stole, too (it was recovered a few blocks away) and left. After a few minutes, Mike wriggled free and went to a neighbor's to call the cops. Jane returned home to find squad cars at her home.

The crime was over. The repercussions were beginning.

"It's shocking when you have a home invasion," says police Inspector Kris Arneson, who has been working with the neighborhood since the incident. "It strikes at the core of your feeling of security in your home, and your city."

Mike and Jane are satisfied with how police investigated the crime. But the incident has changed how they -- and many other residents -- think about their neighborhood.

"We used to keep our house keys outside, in the grill," says Jane. "This was a neighborhood where kids went in and out of each other's houses. I never felt I had to be careful. But crime is a growing problem, and people can't just live in a bubble and think this kind of thing can't happen. It can happen."

Five days after the home invasion, three suspects were arrested in Michigan City, Ind., after one pulled a gun from a car trunk and wounded another person. (I couldn't find out if the gun was one of Mike's, but it may have been).

The suspects are from Gary, Ind., and are 18, 21 and 23. They are expected to be extradited to Minnesota to face charges of first-degree burglary and aggravated robbery. Police recovered the BlackBerry, the laptop, the guns (which are being held as evidence) and the Persian rug. The jewelry is still missing.

Mike and Jane have put heavy-duty locks on their doors and added motion detectors to the security system they rarely used. It's on all the time now.

"People can be a little delusional about crime in this neighborhood," Mike says. "We all want to hope for the best, and ignore it if we can. But we are getting people coming in here looking for targets.

"We shouldn't make it easy."

Nick Coleman • ncoleman@startribune.com