Home invasion leaves Deer Park man badly beaten

A man was brutally beaten in his living room Tuesday after a group of four men forced their way into his house.

Two suspects, William Higgins, 29, and Zachary Johnson, 18, were arrested Wednesday in connection with the attack. They both face charges of first-degree burglary and second-degree malicious mischief.

Another suspect, who is a minor, was booked into juvenile detention. The fourth suspect, who is also a minor, had not been located as of Thursday afternoon.

Witnesses told police that Higgins and Johnson, who lived in or knew people in the neighborhood, were walking past the victim’s house in the 100 block of N. Margaret Avenue in Deer Park with two unknown males when the four began verbally taunting the victim’s son. The victim and his son apparently yelled back, which agitated the males, deputies wrote in court documents.

The victim and his son entered the home and locked the door, but the four broke the lock and forced their way in, where they started assaulting the victim, witnesses said. The homeowner was eventually dragged into the kitchen, where one of the men hit him with a baseball bat.

“They were all on me at one time,” the victim told deputies after the assault. “Everything happened so fast.” He suffered a laceration to the back of his head, which was bleeding on the left side of his neck, and to his face, deputies noted.

A neighbor who witnessed the four men leaving the victim’s house told officers he attempted to stop them in his front yard, but one of them struck his vehicle with a piece of wood. The neighbor recognized Higgins and Johnson.

Johnson apparently left his wallet behind, which clued police in on his whereabouts.