A TAMWORTH man was hit in the face with a brick and his family threatened with a shovel during a violent home invasion in Oxley Vale early yesterday morning.
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Sergeant Stephen Fuhrmann of Tamworth police said three or four people were thought to be responsible for the 1am attack at the Fisher St home.
Detectives believe the crime is opportunistic and have established links to another incident in which four people were disturbed at another house earlier in the night.
Senior police believe the group, aged between 16 and 18, entered the house through an unlocked front window.
Once inside the group threatened a 46-year-old man, his 15-year-old daughter and her 19-year-old boyfriend.
The 46-year-old man was hit on the head with the brick during a short struggle and later needed treatment in hospital.
The teens took some of the family’s personal belongings, a small amount of cash and the keys to a dark blue 2003 Holden Commodore which they used in their escape.
They then allegedly led police on a pursuit through the Taminda Industrial Estate about 2am before it was ended in the interests of safety.
Detectives and specialist forensic officers have since canvassed the area for evidence and interviewed the victims.
The car was recovered yesterday morning in Stanley Close at Westdale, and, along with the shovel, has been forensically examined.
Officers are now searching for three Aboriginal youths, between 167cm and 172cm, and a Caucasian teenager described as being about 179cm tall, of a medium build and with a shaved head.
Acting Superintendent of the Oxley Local Area Command, Chris Taylor, said police were treating the incident as serious.
He appealed for anyone with information on the incident or other crimes in the area to contact Tamworth Police Station or they could privately message officers through the command’s Facebook page.
A strike force had not yet been established into this incident or those of a similar nature in the city, but police were working hard to track down those responsible, he said.