Carlos Hernandez delivers some snacks to his family in Northwest Roanoke. They sit on the porch of a home in an increasingly Hispanic neighborhood off Williamson Road. Nearby -- Hispanic grocery stores, and an Hispanic butcher shop.
It seems quiet today, but recently this family was attacked.
“There's some steps to my house going up there,” said Carlos.
Carlos showed us how intruders broke into his mother's home. He was upstairs in his apartment when he heard the intrusion below.
“I go into my kitchen and get the biggest kitchen knife I can find I run down the steps,” he said.
The door had been kicked in -- the door frame shattered.
“So I hollered for my mom. Mom, Mom, where are you? And I hear her in the back crying.”
The intruders heard him coming, he believes and ran out. He shows us where his mother and all the girls were hiding -- In the bathtub.
“What made you want to get in the bathtub?” I asked in English.
Carlos repeated the question in Spanish. “I don't know,” his mother Leticia replied.
Carlos interpreted, “She was just very afraid. “ Shen his mother added in broken English,”My babies cry. I thought maybe me die.”
In this case, the intruders didn't get anything... But police confirm that they are investigating a rash of intrusions in Roanoke's Hispanic community.
Carlos says the reason Spanish speakers are being targeted is simple.
“One they don't speak very good English. Two, they are afraid of the police. “
Carlos says they shouldn't be. He called police and believes they will solve this case.
In the meantime, he's re-enforcing the door with a 2 x 4 , and spending his nights watching in case there's any more trouble.
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