UPDATE: Home Invasion Puts Residents Without Power on High Alert

Update: The following message was posted on the village's website at 3:59 p.m. Friday:

On Thursday evening, November 8th, four Garden City homes within the Central Section were burglarized. One was an occupied burglary where a weapon was displayed and shots fired into the ceiling. Fortunately, no one was injured.

The prior evening, a similar occupied burglary occurred within the Cathedral Gardens Section of the Village of Hempstead. Proceeds of the Garden City and Hempstead burglaries included vehicles which have been recovered in Hempstead.

The Garden City Police Department is coordinating a task force with the Nassau County Police Department and other neighboring law enforcement agencies to apprehend the perpetrator who is described as a male black or Hispanic with a goatee, medium height and weight.

Protective police patrols will be increased within the village until the perpetrator is apprehended.

Residents are urged to immediately report anything that they feel is of a suspicious nature to the Garden City Police Department at 911.

Original Story: A home invasion on Third Street Thursday night has residents on edge, especially those still without power because of Hurricane Sandy.

At approximately 11:30 p.m. a subject armed with a gun entered a Third Street home and was confronted by a resident. Another family member upstairs heard the commotion. Police report two shots were fired into the ceiling during the incident.

The subject fled the area with many items, including the family's car.

Police are also reporting that two unoccupied burglaries also took place on Third Street Thursday night. Officers discovered the burglaries during a canvas of the area, police commissioner Kenneth Jackson told Patch Friday.

The Third Street home invasion is similar to the occupied home invasion on Bedell Avenue in Hempstead Village the night prior, police said, in which the subject tied the residents up and burglarized the home.

Jackson said village police are working closely with Hempstead Village and Nassau County police to remain proactive during continued power outages as a result of Hurricane Sandy and most recently Wednesday's Nor'easter.

Jackson said the department is also working with LIPA to get the village restored as soon as possible.