Her husband Fritz Menzel said the teenagers used a sledgehammer and axe from their garage to smash their back window and threatened Ms Menzel at gunpoint, demanding she hand over her car keys. "They shake up everything, look everywhere, open drawers, and suddenly asked my missus for keys for the car," Mr Menzel said. "They had a gun on her. [They said], ‘If you start screaming, we shoot you’." Ms Menzel has been traumatised following the incident, her husband said. He said she was having nightmares, waking up in the early hours of the morning asking, "What’s happened? Where’s my phone?"

"I feel very sad for my wife, for the trauma she got now. She have to go to the city to see [a counsellor]. It’s terrible," he said. The teenagers were in the Peppermint Crescent home for about 30 minutes, when Mr Menzel realised something was terribly wrong. By the time he got out of bed, the teenagers fled with the family's Toyota. The couple’s 27-year-old daughter, who has a disability, was also home at the time but did not encounter the thieves. Detectives from Taskforce Wayward arrested and charged two teenagers in relation to the incident last Wednesday and were looking for the remaining three on Tuesday. Police arresting one of the alleged offenders. Credit:Victoria Police

Police are urging the public not to approach the boys - who are believed to be in hiding in the Collingwood, Sunshine or Melton areas - and instead call police. "We do believe them to be together, particularly in the Collingwood area so we would ask residents in and around that area to be vigilant," Detective Senior Sergeant Brett Kahan said. "They are actively avoiding police apprehension. The home invasion in question was a particularly concerning crime and it involved elderly victims ... that's certainly one of the reasons we have come to this step today." Senior Sergeant Kahan would not comment when directly asked about any prior alleged offending by the trio, but later said "there are a number of ongoing investigations" surrounding them. Police were able to identify the alleged offenders quickly, because one of the trio is known to them via the Taskforce Wayward program, in which police monitor youth offenders in Melbourne's west.

Investigators also believe the boys have not been at home and it is understood their parents are all extremely distressed. Those involved with the case believe it is "unprecedented" for the Children's Court to grant such an order, so much so that police were shocked at the decision. An 18-year-old Melton West man and a 16-year-old Glenroy boy were arrested last Wednesday and faced Melbourne Magistrates Court charged with aggravated home invasion and theft of a motor vehicle. Both were remanded to face court at a later date.

The Wyndham Vale area, which also includes the suburbs of Manor Lakes and Mount Cottrell, has among the highest rates of aggravated burglaries in Melbourne. There were 14 residential aggravated burglaries in the area in the 12 months to June this year, Crime Statistics Agency data shows.