State police said two people broke into the home of an 83-year-old Westmoreland County woman, shook her awake and demanded money early this morning.

Hazel Irene Peden, of Smithton, was sleeping in her Barren Run Road home when someone woke her up by shaking her by the shoulders. She heard another person rummaging through her bedroom. The two had broken in by removing a window air conditioning unit on the bottom floor, police said.

The person standing over her demanded money and she pressed the Life Alert badge she wears on her wrist.

The person grabbed the badge and threw it. Both then ran down the stairs and out a door. Police did not say if they took anything.

Police described one of the intruders as a white man between 25- and 30-year-old. They did not have a description for the other intruder.

State police asked anyone with information to call Trooper Louis J. Serafini of Troop B Belle Vernon Crime Unit at 724-929-6262.

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