Violent home invasion near Arnprior

Ottawa police are investigating a home invasion involving a widower in the city's rural west end. It happened last Tuesday evening in a home near Upper Dwyer Hill Road and Ritchie Side Road, just east of Arnprior. Cheryl Caswell runs a doggy daycare near the area where the violent attack happened.  Surrounded by dogs, Caswell says she isn’t too worried about the home invasion.  The dogs act as a pretty good deterrent to would-be thieves.  Still, the incident has unnerved her.

“When you hear that this has happened to a neighbor so close to you, it's bothersome for sure,” she says, “it makes me anxious.”

Ottawa Police say the home invasion happened last Tuesday evening just before 8 p.m. when a man in his 60's responded to a knock on his door.

“When he answered, two males rushed through door and put the homeowner to the ground,” says Staff-Sergeant Mike Haarbosch with the Ottawa Police Robbery Unit.

The man who is widowed was badly beaten and robbed.

“While he was held on the floor by one suspect, a second suspect rummaged through house and removed a number of items that included keepsakes from his deceased wife,” says Haarbosch.

Ottawa police do not believe this was a random attack.  They say statements the two suspects made led them to believe they had come to this man's house for a specific purpose.What that was or whether they knew the man, police won't say.

They have a vague description of the two: dressed in black, 20 to 35 years old and medium height.  They are hoping someone in the area might have noticed something amiss.

“It’s shocking,” says resident Theresa Carron, “We’ve never had anything like this in this area and I've lived here since 1982. It’s a. pretty safe area.”

The victim sustained injuries to his head and face and was sent to hospital.  He was released but is undergoing assessment and treatment for those injuries. Police say home invasions in Ottawa are pretty uncommon with fewer than 40 a year.  Random attacks fortunately are even rarer.