Man killed in home invasion
Authorities discovered a deFHDsHG PDOH rHsLGHQW — LGHQWLfiHG Ds 48-year-old Joseph Canazaro — in a home on the 300 block of Swartley Road in Hilltown Township the morning of Jan. 18 after an armed home invasion, according to Chris Engelhart, chief of the township’s police department.
Engelhart said two survivors — a woman and Canazaro’s 12-year-old son who had been bound by the invDGHrs — flHG WhH hRPH DQG FDOOHG authorities from a neighbor’s home.
“7hH LQvHsWLJDWLRQ Ls vHry fluLG,” he said last Friday afternoon standing near the bottom of the home’s long driveway. “We’re following sHvHrDO OHDGs.”
Engelhardt said Canazaro and the woman — his girlfriend — did not own the home, but one of her two children who lives at the home had left for school before the invasion. Both children and the woman were later questioned by detectives at the Hilltown police headquarters.
The two suspected invaders were both wearing masks and carrying hDQGJuQs DQG flHG WhH sFHQH LQ D EODFN Lincoln pickup truck owned by one of the residents, according to the chief. The truck was found shortly before 4 p.m. Jan. 18 in a shopping center parking lot on Route 309 in Quakertown, according to Matthew Weintraub, the chief of prosecution for the Bucks CRuQWy DLsWrLFW $WWRrQHy’s RIfiFH. $uthorities are examining the truck and a nearby trash container for clues, according to Engelhart.
He said the subjects should be considered armed and dangerous and that additional weapons may have been taken from the home.
$uWhRrLWLHs wHrH QRWLfiHG RI WhH incident around 10 a.m., according to Engelhart, but police were still investigating the area surrounding the home that evening to determine how WhH WwR DrrLvHG. $ SROLFH .-9 RIfiFHr from the Quakertown Police Department searched the home’s yard and a JrDssy fiHOG DFrRss 6wDrWOHy “RQ WhH RII FhDQFH WhHy wHrH hLGLQJ RuW” LQ the immediate area before the home invasion, Engelhart said.
He said police have not determined how the suspects — described as a Hispanic male 5-foot, 9-inches tall and a “smaller Asian male” wearing a black jacket and cargo pants — got to the house.
“Figuring out how they came to pick this location,” is part of the investigation, Engelhart said.
The two men were inside WKH KRPH, RQ PuOWLSOH flRRUV, for several hours, but it’s still unknown for how long, according to police.
7KH FKLHI FRQfiUPHG WKDW Canazaro’s body was discovered in a different part of the house than where the three people “were originally accosted.” Weintraub later said his body was discovered in the garage of the home, while the woman and Canazaro’s son were tied up in the basement.
7KH SURVHFuWRU FRQfiUPHG that the invaders accessed WKH KRPH WKURuJK D fiUVWflRRU wLQGRw.
Authorities did not see any evidence of a particular struggle, according to Engelhart.
He said the r.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives assisted township and Bucks County authorities in the investigation, since police suspected that weapons were taken from the home.
“It’s not unusual for them to get involved in cases like this,” Engelhart said.
Police from several area departments, Bucks County detective, and federal investigators could be seen entering and exiting the house as night fell last Friday.
Canazaro may have been targeted, law enforcement RIfiFLDOV VDLG HDUOLHU WKLV week.
The incident was not random, according to Engelhart.
The results of an autopsy conducted Saturday were not released. David Heckler, the Bucks County district attorney, decided to withhold the information for “investigative reasons,” according to The Associated Press.
CDQDzDUR’V fiQDQFLDO KLVtory and ownership stake in Finn McCool’s Tavern in Ambler will likely be part of law enforcement’s investigation, Weintraub said.
7KH vLFWLP fiOHG IRU EDQNruptcy in 2008 with approximately $10 million in debt.
“Both those issues are fair game,” said Weintraub, who will be handling the home invasion case. “We plan to exhaust all avenues of this investigation.”
A 2007 Takeuchi TL130 truck loader valued at $33,000 was reported taken from BhL Concrete in Bedminster Industrial Park on Appletree Lane between 5:30 p.m. Jan. 16 and 5:40 a.m. Jan. 17, Pennsylvania State Police at Dublin said. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call 215-249-9191, police said. erty and theft by deception DIWHU VWROHQ fiUHDUPV wHUH sold to Quinby’s Gun Shop on Route 313 in Hilltown between 2:30 and 5:30 p.m. Dec. 11, Pennsylvania State Police at Dublin said.
Gallo was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Robert Gaffney, New Britain, with bail set at 10 percent of $20,000, police said.