By Connor Adams Sheets
A large-scale police search in College Point Saturday afternoon ended unsuccessfully, with two robbery suspects eluding arrest, police said.
Police sent a helicopter, a K-9 unit, an Emergency Service Unit trucks and police officers after two men who robbed a woman at gunpoint in the vicinity of 125th Street and 18th Avenue, but were unable to find the men, who were still on the loose as of Monday evening, 109th Precinct Deputy Inspector Brian Maguire said.
The men, who posed as deliverymen in order to gain access to a woman’s home and then proceeded to rob her, were described as Hispanics who drove a dark-colored car, Maguire said. The men appeared to have targeted the house, he added.
“There was a home invasion. We didn’t get the guys,” Maguire said. “They knew exactly why they were headed there. They perpetrated that they were making a delivery.”
Lou Ramos has lived across the street from the victim’s home for about 15 years. He said he found out about the robbery when police officers passed through his yard during the search.
He said an officer showed him a photograph of a Hispanic man with a tarantula tattoo on his neck and a mole on his cheek and asked if he had any information about him.
“I know the majority of people living around here,” he said. “That guy is not from around here.”
Ramos said he believed that after the robbery had been committed, the suspect or suspects shed all of their clothing and attempted to enter other homes in the neighborhood in order to hide from police. Police did not confirm whether that information is true.
Ramos said the robbery concerned him and made him question the safety of his section of College Point.
“You worry about your family,” he said. “Is the neighborhood changing for the good or for worse?”
Maguire said Monday evening he was unsure if a sketch had been made of the suspects based on the victim’s description, and police have no video of the suspects.
Police ask that anyone with information related to the suspects or the crime call Crimestoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
Reach reporter Connor Adams Sheets by e-mail at csheets@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
