TAUNTON, Mass. — A 73-year-old Taunton woman was assaulted Thursday night when an armed man burst through her front door. Police are investigating the vicious home invasion.
"I took a hit with the gun when he came in, I think I got hit with the door too when he came in real fast," Shirley Rodriguez said, recalling a blow to her head.
After the masked man hit her, Rodriguez said he began to take what he wanted from her house. "He took my phone, my house phone, he said, 'Give me your car keys.'"
The man also took her car, which Rodriguez said had 400 pounds of cat food in it.
Rodriguez has lived on her Staples Street home in Taunton for three decades, dedicating her life to caring for rescue animals and her many cats.
Most neighbors in that area know each other - which is why Rodriguez thinks the attack on her home may be linked to an incident last week when a neighbor spotted an unknown man running from her yard.
One of Rodriguez's neighbors said he's keeping an even closer eye on his home and hers following the violent break-in.
Rodriguez's car was found a mile away, and Taunton Police are asking anyone with information on this home invasion to come forward.
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