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Town of Wallkill man describes family being zip-tied as 4 men ransack his home

Gurmain Singh said the four men zip-tied Singh and his wife at their wrists and ankles and ordered the family to stay put on their living room couch.

Ben Nandy

Dec 5, 2024, 11:30 PM

Updated 15 days ago

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Gurmain Singh recalled the moment Sunday evening a masked man put a gun to his back and said, 'Keep walking," as the man and three others were about to ransack Singh's house in the Town of Wallkill.
Speaking with News 12 in his living room, Singh said he and his 10-year-old daughter had just returned home near Tower Drive from a trip to Chipotle.
The moment Singh stepped out of the car, a man put a gun to his back.
Wallkill police said that man and three others then forced Singh and his eldest daughter into the home.
"He said, 'Go open the door,'" Singh recalled hearing from the man holding the gun to his back, "or otherwise he would shoot me."
All four men's bodies and faces were fully concealed except for their eyes, according to Singh and the surveillance video he provided to News 12.
Singh said the four men zip-tied Singh and his wife at their wrists and ankles and ordered the family to stay put on their living room couch.
The couple's four children were shaken and hugging their parents tightly, Singh said, while three of the men went through every room, every drawer and a safe they broke into.
The men left with some cash and irreplaceable gold jewelry, some of which was gifted to the couple at their wedding.
Multiple neighbors told News 12 the men were waiting nearby for about 45 minutes until the car pulled into the driveway.
Singh said his eldest daughter — who is seen holding the bag in the surveillance video — is working through the experience.
"She cries in the morning when she goes to school. She cries when she comes back," Singh said. "I think she's in trauma because she's scared they're going to come back."
Nothing about the men's mannerisms clued Singh in to the men's identities.
According to all he currently knows, Singh said it is possible he was targeted but would not know why, adding that nothing like Sunday's incident has ever happened before.
"They shouldn't have done that to a family," Singh said. "That's really bad like that, and hopefully they get punished for that."
Wallkill police are asking anyone with information about the incident to call the department's detective's office at 845-692-6757.
Some neighbors said they have shared additional clips of surveillance video for the investigation.
Singh provided another piece of evidence that could be especially helpful to police: an iPhone that one of the men left behind.