CBS2 Exclusive: Brooklyn Woman, 82, Speaks After Terrifying Home Invasion, Robbery
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An elderly Brooklyn woman was recently the victim of a push-in robbery that she said happened in the middle of the day.
CBS2's Valerie Castro talked exclusively to the victim, Elsie Felder. At 82 years old, Felder said said she loves to get outside, visit her neighbors and go out to buy lottery tickets – but now she says she is afraid to leave her home.
"Please don't hurt me," Felder said when she was attacked. She said those were the only words she could muster when a strange man pushed her into her apartment as she opened the door.
"Frightened, really frightened, because something like that has never, never, never, never happened," she said.
Felder said it was mid-afternoon Tuesday, and she had just returned to her Red Hook home from running errands. She said she was not sure where the man came from, but he quickly pushed her into the apartment and toward a back bedroom.
Felder said, "He said like, 'Don't look at me,'" and pushed her face down.
Felder said the intrusion happened quickly, and while she was face down on the bed, the man rummaged through her purse.
"I had, that morning, went to the ATM machine and had taken money out," she said.
The man found $70 inside, and then quickly left.
"What do I think? Horrible – I would say horrible, just horrible thoughts -- why would you do this?" she said. "In other words, he could have taken whatever he wanted -- just don't hurt me."
Felder said police are now looking at surveillance footage from the building for any video of the man. She said her life is now forever changed.
"It used to be comfortable," she said, "but now it's not."
Felder said she has lived in the same apartment for the last 40 years. Despite the incident, she said she has no plans to move away.
