A terrified North Carolina neighborhood is upping security after a local family was tortured by masked intruders earlier this month.
Authorities are still investigating why the family was targeted so viciously. The violent robbers stole a cache of items after the two parents and three young children were tortured, according to The Daily Mail.
The men tortured the family by heating up knives on the stove and using them to burn their flesh, Harnett County Sheriff Wayne Coats revealed.
Coats told the Mail that the savage torture method was the worst he had ever seen in his career and was used "to get the family to tell them where their money and guns were."
The horrifying attack occurred as the family was gathered in their garage at 2 a.m. with the door open.
The group, initially hiding nearby, stormed the home and held the family at knifepoint, forcing Maricela Morales, her husband Arturo Torres, and their three children inside.
A number of items were stolen, but the criminals were unable to find any money or guns inside the property, according to officials.
The masked intruders then fled the scene in two stolen vehicles.
Residents on the usually sleepy North Carolina street remain on edge as the suspects have yet to be apprehended.
Neighbor Jeffery Miller told WRAL that he plans to beef up his home security, and he feels "just so sorry for their family."
Yesterday "I had security installed," he added.
"I thought I was the security guard," Miller said, "but now I need to have a camera."
A GoFundMe has been set up by the victim's sister, Mayra Morales-Scott, to help the family deal with the medical costs and repair their lives.
