Homeowner fights to protect house, children during Spring...

PITTSBURGH — Police said two children were inside a Spring Garden home early Wednesday morning during a home invasion.

Investigators said the homeowner fought off the would-be robbers when the masked men broke into his home on Spring Garden Avenue. Channel 11 News was there as police and medics surrounded the home around 2 a.m.

"I was yelling, ‘Who is this?’ and they said, ‘Come down and see.’ So that’s when I woke him up and said somebody broke in," said the children’s mother Crystal Rathbun.

Rathbun said that’s when her fiancé Floyd Johnston ran downstairs and confronted the masked men.

"I seen a guy downstairs pointing a gun at me so I backed up and the next thing I know the door was pushed open and kicked open. So I went after that guy to keep him outside," Johnston said.

During the fight, Johnston said the intruder’s gun went off, striking him in the foot.

“The other guy was hitting me in the head and that’s when the gun went off,” Johnston said.

It was during the struggle Rathbun said she learned the men took her 6-year-old out of bed and into the basement.

“It was strange because I didn’t hear him at all. I didn’t hear him calling for me. I was just like,’What’s going on?’” Rathbun said.

Rathburn said her son is having a tough time because every time he closes his eyes, he says he sees a masked man taking him from his room.

She added that her 3-year-old usually sleeps in the same room as the 6-year-old, but didn’t last night.

“Very luck and very, very fortunate,” Rathburn said.

Pittsburgh police said it appears the home invasion was not a random attack.

“They did call the 6-year-old by name so I would say they knew the residents of the house,” Pittsburgh police Lt. Shirley Sloan said.

Investigators said after Johnston was shot, the men took off running. Rathbun and her two children were unharmed.

“My adrenaline was so high. I was just trying to protect my family. I wanted everything away from my family, that’s why I was pushing him out the door,” said Johnston.

Police said they were unable to obtain a description of the men and at this point, have no solid leads.

WPXI