July 25, 2024 By Bill Parry
Police from the 108th Precinct in Long Island City are looking for an armed robber who targeted two women inside their apartments, one in Woodside and the other in Sunnyside.
The first incident occurred just before 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 18, when the intruder entered a woman’s apartment near 56th Street and Queens Boulevard, across from the northern edge of Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, while the 21-year-old victim was home. The suspect allegedly pulled out a knife and threatened her while demanding her cash and cell phone. The woman complied and the robber fled the location in an unknown direction. An NYPD spokesman could not say how much cash was taken, but noted that the victim was not injured during the encounter.
Four days later, on Monday, July 22, the same man allegedly slipped into an apartment in the vicinity of Skillman Avenue and 42nd Street overlooking Lou Lodati Park at just after 10:00 a.m. The perpetrator was thwarted when he encountered a 76-year-old woman who was home alone. The suspect fled the apartment through a window and ran off in an unknown direction.
The NYPD released surveillance images of the suspect on Thursday and described him as having a dark complexion with short black hair. He wore a black t-shirt with Kenneth Cole in white lettering across the chest, ripped blue jeans, black sneakers and a silver-colored watch on his left wrist.
Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
Through July 21, the 108th Precinct has reported 138 robberies so far in 2024, 11 fewer than the 149 reported at the same point last year, a decline of 7.4%, according to the most recent CompStat report.