Police: Man Posing As NYCHA Employee Robs 73-Year-Old At Gunpoint
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A 73-year-old man was robbed at gunpoint by someone claiming to be a New York City Housing Authority employee Wednesday in Manhattan, police say.
It happened around 2:30 p.m. inside the Vladeck Houses on Madison Street.
Police were guarding the Lower East Side building where an elderly man was tortured and robbed midday Wednesday.
The suspect was wearing a North Face two-tone jacket with stars on it. Underneath, he is believed to have been wearing some kind of of uniform, used by the man to pose as someone you might allow in the door.
As for the victim?
"He don't have no family," a neighbor told CBS2's Dave Carlin. He described the 73-year-old victim as an easy target, because he lives alone, is a double amputee and in a wheelchair.
The neighbor rushed over to the apartment and looked inside to see it was ransacked.
"He had a loveseat flipped over, there was stuff on the floor, you could tell something happened," the neighbor said.
He said it was before paramedics came, so he was able to get details from the victim and his home health care aide, who said the home invader knocked and said he was there for maintenance.
"And they open the door and let him in, you know what I'm saying? Because maintenance was in the building at the time checking the pipes, because the heat, you know what I'm saying," he said.
Police sources told Carlin once inside the apartment, the suspect flashed a silver gun and said "Don't say anything. I will be gone in 20 minutes."
He stole $300 in cash and a phone, and burned the victim's knees with a heated-up knife.
The victim was brought to New York Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital where he was listed in stable condition.
The crime has the Vladeck Houses community on edge. Resident association members of the NYCHA development were going door to door.
"We are right now in the process of checking every cylinder, every door, to ensure that every lobby door has our operable locking mechanism," said Nancy Ortiz, resident association president. "You don't just open the door. Ask 'who are you, what are you here for, what are you coming to look at.'"
Police said they're searching for a black man, approximately 30 years old, 5 feet 9 inches tall and 150 pounds. He was last seen wearing a black skullcap, a North Face two-tone coat with stars, blue jeans and black sneakers.
Anyone with information about the attack is asked to call NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or 1-888-57-PISTA (74782) for Spanish. You can also submit a tip via the Crime Stoppers website, by Tweeting @NYPDTips or by texting a tip to 274637 (CRIMES) and then entering TIP577.
