By By JAN GRIFFEY / Niles Daily Star
NILES -- A string of armed home invasions, which area law enforcement officials think are being committed by the same group of suspects, continued Saturday night in the Niles area.
At about 10:15 p.m.Saturday, two subjects broke into a home near Barron Lake and Center streets in Howard Township, according to a press release issued from the Cass County Sheriff's Department.
An elderly couple and their adult son were restrained and the two subjects, using handguns, demanded money.
Next, just shortly after 11 p.m., police say the same subjects kicked in the back door of a residence in the City of Niles in the 1600 block of Oak Street.
Niles City Police Chief Ric Huff said the pair, described as black males, restrained the pair and demanded money.
The couple were able to free themselves and call for help.
While Michigan law enforcement officials were working the first two home invasions, the same suspects are thought to have traveled just across the state line, to Lilac Street in St. Joseph County, Ind., where they committed another, similar armed home invasion just after midnight.
Huff said law enforcement officers from the City of Niles Police Department and Cass County and St. Joseph County police agencies are working together in the form of a task force to solve the crimes.
Police think the same group of suspects have been committing the rash of armed home invasions which have occurred over the last three months.