Del. apartment rampage ends with 4 arrests

Three men and a juvenile, all from Philly, were arrested Tuesday night in Delaware after they allegedly terrorized a half-dozen apartment dwellers.

Police officials said the creeps - who ranged in age from 16 to 45 - robbed and pistol-whipped an unidentified man in a parking lot outside his Bear, Del., apartment complex shortly before 10 p.m. The victim had just returned from visiting Philadelphia.

The suspects allegedly forced their way into his third-floor apartment and held the bloodied man and three frightened women at gunpoint while they stole cash and jewelry, said Cpl. Trinidad Navarro, New Castle County Police spokesman.

The Rockwood Apartments complex was soon swarmed by police, who were alerted to the parking-lot beating by a stunned passer-by.

The punks panicked when they saw the cops, jumped down to a second-floor balcony and barged into an apartment shared by an elderly woman and her son, police said.

Navarro said the suspects threatened to kill the woman's son unless they kept quiet. The tough talk failed, as the woman screamed and drew the attention of police.

When cops forced their way into the second-floor apartment, police said, they found the supposedly armed and dangerous thugs hiding under trash and debris.

The three adult suspects were identified as: Tyreese Hawthorne, 25, of Francis Street near Leland; Lawrence Michaels, 20, of 16th Street near Fairmount Avenue; and Saladine Pitts, 45, of 20th Street near 65th Avenue.

Navarro said all four, including the juvenile, were charged with kidnapping, burglary, robbery, assault, possession of a deadly weapon, resisting arrest and related offenses.

According to court records, Hawthorne, Michaels and Pitts all have extensive violent histories.