Bound and gagged: Home invasion victims describe terrifying ordeal in rural Mississippi

COLDWATER, Miss. — Tate County deputies said Tuesday they’re looking for two men who broke in to a home, held a father and his teenage son at gunpoint, tied their hands and gagged them before robbing them. It happened in a rural part of Tate County near Coldwater, Mississippi. Horses roamed out in front of the Olivas home, set far back from Mays Road Tuesday. It’s a quiet place. That’s why Elbo Olivas, 19, said he never expected an attack at 8:30 in the morning last Friday. “I was lying in bed. All of a sudden they jumped on me and started choking me,” he said. “I thought it was one of my buddies messing around with me at first, but I opened my eyes and there was a masked man.” He said they started wrestling. The intruder grabbed his throat. “He was tying my hands and feet, stuffed a sock in my mouth and put me on the ground. Yeah, I don’t like talking about it too much,” Olivas said. He said he and another man dragged him to his dad’s room, and then held both of them at gunpoint. At that point, he thought they were dead. “They shot between my legs too because I moved,” Olivas said. “I was totally afraid. I thought I was about to die.” Instead, he said the suspects took their credit cards, phones and the keys to their truck. Tate County deputies said they later spotted the truck and the men in DeSoto County. They recovered the GMC truck, but the suspects are still on the run. The teen and other neighbors in this small community are nervous. “I stay on edge and don’t want to come outside at night,” one woman said. “I’m not that very comfortable. I feel like somebody’s watching me,” Olivas said. Deputies said burglars also broke into the same home in the 1700 block of Mays Road earlier in the week, but no one was home. They took about $300, according to Olivas. Authorities didn’t say if they suspected the same people committed thecrimes. Olivas said he didn’t know why someone would target his home. Another neighbor said she knew of at least three other recent break-ins nearby. She said the nearest deputies have to drive all the way from Senatobia, making their street a potential target.