Two men charged in violent Calgary home invasion gone wrong

One Calgary family has been left traumatized after they fell victim to a case of mistaken identity last weekend.

On Jan. 16, at around 12 p.m., what would normally have been a calm Sunday afternoon for the family turned dark, after two men with weapons broke into their home in the southeast community of McKenzie Towne.

The men restrained the parents, a man and a woman in their 30s, with zip ties and duct tape while they confined four children in a separate room.

The catch? The intruders had the wrong home.

The victims protested they were in the wrong home as the offenders demanded money, jewelry, and drugs from the adults.

The men repeatedly tased both victims, threatened their lives, and threatened to harm their kids.

Quick thinking from the mother prevented it from getting worse and allowed police to arrive promptly.

“She had two phones, when the guys came in they demanded cellphones. So she handed over one of them,” said Det. Dave Thomas. “She managed to pocket dial 911 and leave it in her sweater, and that was like the open line to the dispatcher so they could hear all the commotion going on in the background.”

One officer listening in realized they were hearing a home invasion in process and raced over with their partner.

“One went to the front door, one went to the back. Between the two of them, communicating with one another, they did a knock and announce to enter the property which obviously alerted the two accused inside,” Thomas added. “They dumped everything that they had with them, went running out the back door and right into the arms of the police officer that was in the backyard.

It only took 15 minutes for the entire incident to unfold.

No kids were harmed and both parents were treated on scene by EMS.

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The fact this was a case of mistaken identity makes it even more shocking for investigators.

“What normally would have been an uneventful Sunday afternoon turned out to be a traumatizing experience for an innocent family,” said Staff Sergeant Krista Ryan of the CPS General Investigations Unit in a release.

“It was a bit of a rare one,” Thomas said. “We don’t believe this to be a targeted attack on this family. But there’s no need for the public to be concerned because we have the two accused in custody and we’ve got nothing to suggest anybody else is involved”

From the scene, police seized a loaded GSG-16 .22 calibre semi-automatic rifle and a handheld taser.

The two men, 34-year-old Tyler Kowal of Winnipeg, and 32-year-old Jessie Lunan of Surrey have now both been charged. Kowal was wanted on Canada-wide warrants for unrelated offences.

Both of the men appeared in court Wednesday.

Thomas said they are providing any supports the family may need to help recover from this traumatic event.

“We’ve still got the whole court proceedings to go through, and we’ll continue to provide updates and support to the family for whatever they need, for however long that they need it to be honest with you.”

He also has advice for people to ensure they can be safe from incidents like this, such as ensuring your doors and windows are locked and to consider getting a home security system. Thomas added that it helps to get to know your neighbours, because someone walking down the street may be able to notice something wrong and alert police.