Police from two Queens police precincts and one station house in the Bronx are searching for a gang of armed robbers who struck several times after stealing a 2018 Hyundai Sonata in the Bronx, according to the NYPD.
Cops from the 107th Precinct in Fresh Meadows reported that at least three men approached a 33-year-old victim as he was walking past a Jamaica Hills barber shop located at 87-39 164th St., in the early morning hours of Wednesday, July 26. One of the suspects pulled out a handgun while a second man snatched a chain from the victim’s neck just before 2:30 a.m., police said. The three men jumped into the getaway car that was driven by a fourth man and they drove off southbound on 164th Street toward Hillside Avenue.
The gang picked up a fifth man before striking again later that same day within the confines of the 110th Precinct. A 43-year-old man was walking by 125-00 Northern Blvd., near the World’s Fair Marina just north of Citi Field in Corona, when the Sonata pulled up and one of the suspects jumped out and pulled out a handgun. Two of his accomplices forcibly snatched the man’s chain from around his neck, as well as the victim’s wallet that contained approximately $2,250 dollars in cash, his cell phone and his designer watch just before 4 p.m. The suspects got back in the Sonata that drove off westbound on the Grand Central Parkway, police said, adding that the victim was not injured during the robbery.
Investigators determined that the 2018 Hyundai Sonata was stolen in the Melrose section of the Bronx a day earlier. Police from the 42nd Precinct reported that a 33-year-old man parked the car in the vicinity of Boone Avenue and East 173rd Street at around 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 25, and when he returned to the location at around noon the following day, his car was gone. Video surveillance showed three men around the Sonata before they drove off bound for Queens.
The NYPD released surveillance photos of three of the men who stole the car in the Bronx. One wore a blue Yankees shirt over a gray hoodie with gray jeans and black sneakers. The second suspect wore a black hoodie, ripped jeans and blue sneakers and the third man wore a gray camouflage hoodie with gray sweatpants and blue sneakers.
A reward of up to $3,500 is being offered for information that leads to their arrests. Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS.