Police: Two Women Injured While Fighting Off Armed Robber In The Bronx
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police say two women were injured after trying to fight off an armed robber in the Bronx.
It happened Tuesday afternoon on Martha Avenue in the Woodlawn section.
Surveillance video shows the women, who were walking to church, when police said a man pulls up in a blue Toyota Rav4 and gets out brandishing a gun.
That's when police said the man tried to grab one woman's purse, but she resisted and was thrown to the ground, striking her head.
The other woman came to her aid and began hitting the suspect with an umbrella, but police said he also threw her to the ground before jumping back into his vehicle with the purse and fleeing the scene.
"I was siting here having coffee in the afternoon and I thought I heard kids screaming and then when I looked out the window, I saw the two ladies across the street on the floor and they were screaming for an ambulance," a neighbor named Niki told CBS2's Dave Carlin.
She said she immediately called 911 and went to check on the victims.
"They were petrified," she said. "One of the ladies said she hit him with the umbrella over his head and he just ran off."
Police pulled up to the scene minutes later followed by an ambulance.
"She must have fell back and hit her head on the concrete because she had like a huge ball the side of a golf ball coming out of her head," Niki said.
"It's scary," neighbor Elvira Gocaj said. "I mean I'm all day outside with my kids, sometimes my kids run out they leave the doors open."
Neighbors say it's usually quiet in the area, but not lately.
"About two weeks ago, I parked my car right there in front of my house. I left it unlocked, I went inside. Five minutes after me my husband came, he saw somebody in the car," said Gocaj.
She said that person also got away.
"I hope the police take matters of it, patrol this area more often now," she said.
Police are still looking for the suspect in Tuesday's incident. They describe him as a black man between the ages of 18 and 20, 140 pounds and about 5'6" tall. He was wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt with a white logo on the chest, tan pants and brown boots.
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.
