Police Seek Man After Brooklyn Apartment Lobby Attack, Robbery
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A chilling robbery in Prospect Park South was caught on camera and now has police searching for the suspect.
A 34-year-old woman had no idea she was being followed into her apartment building at 7:30 a.m. Friday morning, reports CBS2's Aundrea Cline-Thomas.
It didn't appear that the victim knew she was being followed. Surveillance video shows woman was only a few feet inside the lobby of the building on East 17th Street and Albermarle Road when a man reached out and tried grabbing her.
He put his finger to his mouth and police say demanded that she be quiet or else she would be shot.
Surveillance video from the hallway captured the entire ordeal.
"When I come in, I have to be looking in the back, and when I open the door, I have to be looking at who is in the elevator or in the lobby," said resident Gricelde Greenidge.
In the video, he continues to aggressively corner the woman as she walks backwards across the lobby trying to ward him off.
Police say the suspect stole the woman's iPhone before leaving the building.
"It's not dangerous. I've been here a long time. And this is the first time I've heard someone got robbed in there," said resident Julia Philips. She's lived in the building for more than 20 years. Still, she and others in the neighborhood say they will be more alert.
"I'm looking around more. If I see somebody in the building, outside waiting, I won't open the door for them or something, but that's it," she said.
"I got my wife and two daughters so I'm concerned," said Prospect Park South resident Henry Auguste.
The suspect is described as being 5-foot, 11-inches, weighing about 160 pounds.
He was wearing a black hoody, a blue jean jacket, black sweatpants and white sneakers.
Although the suspect threatened to shoot the victim, police say the victim never saw a gun.
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 (74682), logging onto the Crime stoppers website at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com, or by texting tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enterings TIP577.
