Masked robbers ambush Halloween party with pepper spray and steal dog, Indiana cops say

At first, the couple thought three men in gas masks showed up to their Halloween party in costume Saturday night, media outlets report.

Then the robbers opened fire with pepper spray pellets and attacked revelers at the house party in Muncie, Indiana, WXIN reported. They took Xena, a 5-year-old pitbull mix owned by Melvin Williamson and his girlfriend Megan Brock, the Indianapolis TV station reported.

“Before I could do anything or react, I caught a pellet in the shoulder and my eyes were stinging, and that’s when I realized these guys are shooting me with pellets that have mace in them,” Williamson told WXIN.

The robbers barged into the back door of the home about 11 p.m. when just a few people were left at the party, WTHR reported. Williamson was pushed to the ground and kicked in the head, and Brock was hit with pepper spray, according to WTHR.

“For a split second, I thought it was a joke,” Brock told WTHR. “It’s a Halloween party. I thought maybe some of my friends decided to show up late in gas masks for a split second and then they started shooting us saying, ‘Get on the ground! Get on the ground.’”

Then the men took the dog and left before anyone could catch them, the Muncie Star Press reported.

Williamson was treated at the hospital for a possibly broken nose, police told the newspaper.

Now cops are searching for the suspects and Xena, according the Muncie Star Press.

For the couple, however, they just want their dog back home.

“In a matter of three minutes my dog was taken,” Brock wrote in a Facebook post. “I don’t know if they’ve dropped her off somewhere. I don’t have any idea. I just know my best friend is gone. She is not at our side and I am heartbroken.”

This story was originally published October 29, 2019 at 1:30 PM with the headline "Masked robbers ambush Halloween party with pepper spray and steal dog, Indiana cops say."