Only on 13: Standoff witnesses reflect

For the first time, two witnesses to last Sunday’s standoff involving two suspects in Cascade talk about the incident exclusively with KRDO NewsChannel 13.

Lilly Frederick, 33, and Marvin Mecom, 67, live on the property where Eli Hahn and Henry Henriquez are accused of entering, threatening and robbing victims at gunpoint.

“(Hahn) said (not) to call the cops or he was going to kill us,” Ferederick said.

Frederick said she serves as manager of the home where she, her three children and three roommates live. Mecom lives in a camper behind the home.

Frederick said her two sons, ages 13 and 8, were not present when the incident began, and that she was sleeping with her 6-year-old daughter in an upstairs bedroom.

“A guy with a gun poked his head through the curtains, saying not to say anything,” she said. “He came in the room and told us we were going to get robbed.”

Frederick said she remembered Hahn and Henriquez as having been at her home last month to visit her former roommate.

“He asked me where all the money was, where was this and that,” she said. “I told him he came on the wrong day. I had only $3 cash in my wallet.”

Frederick said she sat on the bed with her daughter and a roommate while the suspects ransacked the home, taking some laptops and cellphones.

“They were there maybe 45 minutes,” she said. “They had even bathroom stuff like my shampoo because there wasn’t much here worth taking. They took the house’s surveillance system. They put it all into bags. They even took some of my kids’ toys and made my roommate carry them downstairs. They tried to take my jewelry box but I gave them my wedding ring instead.”

Frederick said it’s unclear how the suspects entered the home. Because the home is spacious, she said, the two remaining adult residents apparently slept through the incident.

“Chances are the doors were unlocked,” she said. “We usually don’t lock them. It’s a pretty safe neighborhood.”

Frederick said her daughter remained surprisingly calm during the home invasion.

“She asked the robber for the goldfish crackers on the counter and he gave them to her,” she said. “He had the gun cocked and his finger on the trigger the entire time. I was worried the gun would go off and kill my kid.”

Frederick said while the suspects were busy downstairs, she quietly called 911 for help, making sure she wasn’t overheard.

“I just tried to tell the dispatcher what was going on — asking not to be shot and saying I had no money,” she said. “I was trying to say things so that dispatch maybe could get a clue as to what was happening.”

The strategy worked. Frederick said the house became quiet after her roommate took a bag of items downstairs.

“I went downstairs and saw a cop had my roommate and (Hahn) handcuffed on the ground, but (Henriquez) wasn’t there,” she said. “I think the cop wasn’t sure who were the bad guys and who were the good guys. The cops had their guns drawn, so I told them that I had called them and asked them not to shoot me.”

Frederick believes Henriquez left the home before authorities arrived and without Hahn knowing, taking the surveillance system in the process.

Outside, Mecom walked out of his camper when he heard the commotion.

“There were cops with guns all over the place,” he said. “I saw a policeman sitting right over here with a rifle. I asked what was going on. He told me to get up on a hill.”

Frederick said authorities recovered everything except the surveillance system.

“My place is a mess now,” she said, glancing at the pile of presents under her Christmas tree. “But I’m not going to let this ruin my holiday.”

Mecom remains puzzled by the incident.

“Why did these people rob us?” he asked. “We ain’t got nothing. We struggle through the month just to make it.”