Armed robbers invade house, snatch Xbox 360

A group of people burst into an East St. Joseph home early Wednesday and tied up two people at gunpoint before taking a video game console.

It wasn't the PlayStation 3 console, which spawned sporadic violence across the nation when it was released last month, that invoked the group -- rather the Xbox 360 console, which has been on the market for more than a year.

"Maybe that's all they could find that interested them," said St. Joseph Police Cmdr. Jim Connors about the peculiar home invasion and armed robbery. "It's unusual."

Police say a 20-year-old male and his 25-year-old girlfriend were awake in their house in the 3500 block of South Leonard Road when they heard a loud noise around 3 a.m. The man asked "What was that?" before an undetermined number of men and possibly some women rushed into the house.

Mr. Connors said the victims believed the group to be black, but were unable to tell exactly how many people there were. Some members of the group were allegedly armed with guns, the victims told police. The group then took the victims into the bedroom of the house where they were tied up with zip ties.

Mr. Connors said the victims waited for about five minutes until they couldn't hear the group going through the house. The male victim was then able to locate a knife and cut his hands loose and free the pair from the bindings before calling police. No one was injured.

The house is isolated and located in a large industrial area just east of Interstate 29.

The only items that were reported to police as stolen were the Xbox 360 and some games. Mr. Connors declined to say how many games since that information is sensitive to the investigation.

The Xbox 360 was released last year to large lines and bloated prices on auction Web sites like eBay. But the system is now available at almost any electronics store, and the price has dropped to about $300.

Last month, the release of the PlayStation 3 console was met with shortages, stampedes and unruly crowds. A Connecticut man was even shot by armed robbers after purchasing the PlayStation 3 and refusing to give it up.

But the motivation seems a little less clear in Wednesday's armed burglary in St. Joseph. Police have interviewed both victims, but still have a murky picture of the crime, Mr. Connors said.