Brooklyn Robbery Victim: 'I Thought They Were Going To Kill Me'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police are trying to identify two men who they said robbed a man inside his home in Brooklyn.
It happened around 9:30 p.m. Friday on 50th Street and 15th Avenue in Borough Park.
The 76-year-old victim said he was returning home from synagogue when the suspects made their move. Surveillance video shows the suspects follow the victim up to his apartment, where they forced their way in after he opened the door, police said.
"They pushed me inside," the victim, who asked that his name not be released, told CBS2's Janelle Burrell. "I thought they were going to kill me."
Once inside, police said they confined the man to a chair and demanded money.
"A hundred times I told them listen, my money is in the bank. I don't carry money," the victim said. "They speak very gentle. They told me 'Listen, stay here and there will be no problem.'"
The suspects then ransacked the apartment. The victim said the ordeal lasted between 15 and 20 minutes. In the end, the two eventually fled with a fax machine and $3 in cash, police said.
The victim, who was not hurt, said he never saw the suspects' faces and didn't call police because the men disconnected his telephone cords.
He told his friend about the incident more than 24 hours later. That friend then contacted the police.
"They must be desperate for narcotics or something like that," the man's friend said. "If they robbed a bank you know they're going for big money; to go to a private house, they're going for little things."
Why the men would want the fax machine baffles police. People in the neighborhood said they're glad the surveillance cameras were rolling, and that their neighbor wasn't hurt.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782), visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or text tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
