Police: Home invaders got the wrong house

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September 3, 2010

By Jim Patten and Yadira Betances Staff Writers The Eagle Tribune Fri Sep 03, 2010, 12:56 AM EDT

LAWRENCE — As if in a scene from a crime movie, Juan Williams sat on the bed while his wife, Ceferina, knelt on the floor as a man pointed a gun at them.

Meanwhile, another man was frantically searching drawers and cabinets.

"It was a moment of terror," said Williams, associate pastor of God of the Prophecy Church in Lawrence. "My worst fear was that they would get upset after not finding what they were looking for and pull the trigger."

Williams and his wife of 34 years lived through the ordeal Wednesday when the minister said the larger of the two assailants, weighing about 300 pounds, kicked the door twice and forced their way into the apartment around 10:30 p.m., heavily damaging the door, frame and lock.

Williams was getting out of the shower when he heard the noise coming from the living room.

"I asked, 'Who's there?' and when I heard them coming I went to the bedroom," Williams said during an interview yesterday.

One of the men was described as a short, dark-skinned man about 5 feet 3 inches, with a thin build, 120 to 130 pounds. He wore a black baseball cap, a black do-rag under the cap, and carried a small, nickel-plated, semiautomatic pistol. The second man was described as dark-skinned, 6 feet 1 inch tall, with a husky build.

Williams ran to the bedroom, screaming for his wife, who was asleep, as the two men followed him. Williams tried to hold the bedroom door shut, but the two men forced their way in.

The shorter of the two men said in Spanish, "Give me what you have," according to Williams and the police report.

Williams told them, "I don't have anything. We're Christians, and I'm a minister."

The larger of the two men slapped him in the face and told him in Spanish to "shut up."

The larger man then made his way around the bedroom, opening drawers and cabinets and searching them.

As the man searched, the shorter man kept his gun aimed at the minister and his wife, according to the police report.

Ceferina Williams began calling out "Jesus Christ," "Jesus Christ" loudly, while thinking to herself, "Have mercy on us."

The two men left the bedroom and went down a short hallway to another bedroom, where William's father-in-law, a blind, 93-year-old man was in bed. The elderly man also was praying loudly, "Cry out to the Lord and he will save us from this persecution."

They ransacked the elderly man's bedroom, taunting him by asking, "Who is Jesus Christ?"

They returned to the living room and left the apartment after taking two cell phones, police said.

"I was afraid of going after them because I didn't know their intention," Williams said. "I was asking myself, 'God, why us?' But it goes to show how widespread vandalism is."

Juan and Ceferina Williams said they believe their faith and prayers spared them from being shot, or worse.

"We would have been dead if God had not interceded for us," Ceferina said. "I saw the hands of God at that moment."

Her husband agreed.

"The fact that we're able to tell our story shows how much God loves us. God gave us another chance to value life more and be closer to him," said Williams.

Juan and Ceferina Williams were born in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, and immigrated to the United States 14 years ago. They lived in the Bronx, N.Y., before moving to Lawrence 13 years ago. The couple have lived at 8 Inman St. for two and a half years.

Williams has worked at Polartec for 13 years and is pursing a master's degree in pastoral counseling at Gordon Conwell Theological School. His wife volunteers at University of Massachusetts Lowell and Family Services Inc. in Lawrence.

They have three grown children, four grandchildren and a fifth on the way.

"I thought of so many things as I had the gun pointed at me. I was afraid for my family and that my career evangelizing would be over," he said. "But I felt a sense of calmness and peace inside of me."

Police Chief John Romero said in many instances when police go to the scene of a home invasion, "there was a reason why the location was targeted."

"In this case, there was no reason for anyone to have entered this house," Romero said. "Thankfully, no one was hurt. The investigators all believe they were looking for drugs and money."

There were many electronic items and smaller items of value that the two men left untouched.

Romero said the two men might have called in a bogus report of a gun near 33 Lawrence St. just before the home invasion on Inman Street as a way to distract police.

There is no 33 Lawrence St., and the gun call was unfounded.

The call was transferred from the state police and the caller said there were several men in front of 33 Lawrence St. with guns. Officers clearing the gun call rushed to the Williams' 8 Inman St. apartment after the department received a 911 call about 10:43 p.m.

Arriving officers met Juan Williams in front of the building and had him stand by a cruiser while they entered the building and went upstairs to his apartment.

"I felt relieved when the officers came. They were great. They waited until we gathered a few things and escorted us out," he said.

It's still hard for Juan and Ceferina to return to the apartment they call home.

"My knees were shaking when I was going there yesterday," Ceferina Williams said.• • •