LOWELL, MASS. (WHDH) - One gun-toting police impersonator is in custody and a second is still at large after officials say they forced their way into a home in Lowell on Friday morning.
Officers responding to a report of a home invasion on Corbett Street around 9:40 a.m. spoke with a witness who said they found victims yelling for help inside the residence, according to the Lowell Police Department.
The suspects, who identified themselves as police officers, were said to be wearing police badges and holstered handguns at the time of the crime.
Police say both suspects forced their way into the victims’ residence and tied them up before fleeing on foot.
It’s not clear if anything was stolen from the home. There were no reported injuries.
One woman who lives next door said she has seen people coming and going on their dead-end road at all hours of the day.
“Cars, different, expensive cars, in and out. In and out in and out the whole day and the whole night,” she said. “Nonstop.”
Willmann Rivadeneira, 35, of Chelmsford, was later identified as one of the suspects and arrested on a charge of armed home invasion.
Rivadeneira is slated to be arraigned Monday in Lowell District Court.
Police are actively searching for the second suspect.
They have removed over 20 bags and boxes of evidence from the home.
BREAKING: Dozens of bags and boxes (including DEA evidence boxes) removed from a Lowell home after police say two people forced their way inside earlier in the day with guns posing as officers. @7News pic.twitter.com/zFInEFOzit
— Alex DiPrato (@AlexDiPrato) October 26, 2019
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