Elderly Man Beaten, Robbed In Senior Living Home Invasion
CITRUS HEIGHTS (CBS13) — An elderly man is recovering following a home invasion inside his unit at the Crosswood Oaks Retirement Facility in Citrus Heights.
Authorities have caught the suspect and say they'll be taking a closer look at the facility's security.
It's home to some of society's most vulnerable people. The Crosswood Oaks Retirement Community houses hundreds of senior citizens. Just after 1 a.m. Friday, it became the target of a home invasion.
Citrus Heights Police Lt. David Gutierrez said, "This is a very sad case. I mean, our heart goes out to the victim—an 89-year-old male who probably wasn't even able to defend himself."
Police say 18-year-old Braden Frazier broke into the sliding glass door of an exterior unit, where he robbed the place and then beat the 89-year-old man who lived inside.
"We do believe there's a high likelihood that he was hit with some sort of hard object," said Lt. Gutierrez.
Ingrid Kunkel lives around the corner and strolls the neighborhood every day.
"It's really disturbing to me that a mindset, that someone could do this to someone like that," said Kunkel. "It's a concern and this makes me very uncomfortable because I walk early in the morning."
This isn't the first home invasion at the facility. In 2016, a parolee broke into an 88-year-old man's unit. Still, some current residents say they've never felt scared.
"We moved onto the second floor, so we feel very safe," said Betty Faller.
But, police say twice in two years is too much, and they plan to follow up with management to make sure elderly residents are as protected as possible.
"It is troubling to us and it's something that we definitely will be looking into," said Gutierrez, "talk about different security measures and best practices to keep their residents safe."
Frazier was taken to jail and is facing three felony charges including home invasion robbery and elder abuse. CBS13 reached out to the Crosswood Oaks facility, but management declined to comment.
