Armed burglar in Garden City home invasion

Three people were forced into a basement in a blacked-out Garden City home by a gun-wielding man who had broken into the Third Street residence, police said.

A man entered the home around 11:30 p.m. Thursday, apparently through the front window, at about the same time the homeowner was entering the house from the backyard, Garden City Police Commissioner Kenneth Jackson said.

Jackson said there was an "altercation" between the two and the suspect shot two rounds into the ceiling, apparently to force the homeowner, a 57-year-old man, and two women, ages 47 and 22, down the basement stairs. There, the suspect put the three family members into a room and blockaded it with a foosball table.

The family was able to escape and went to a neighbor's home, where they called the police around 1 a.m. Friday. Police responded and found that two other homes -- both unoccupied -- were burglarized, he said.

All of the homes didn't have electricity.

Jackson said a Mercedes was taken from the first home, but was later recovered in Hempstead.

He said Garden City is investigating the incident with Nassau County and Hempstead police.