A 68-year-old man was robbed of tens of thousands of dollars in cash by two strangers who jumped him in a small parking lot behind a Korean market in Murray Hill.
The victim was in the rear of the parking lot behind Hansol Food, located at 147-50 Northern Blvd., at 1:15 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 18 when the two men shoved him to the ground and forcibly removed his backpack containing nearly $36,000 in cash, police said. The victim was not injured during the heist and the two suspects sped away from the crime scene in a red SUV southbound on 149th Street.
An NYPD spokesman was unable to say why the victim had so much cash in his backpack or whether or not he was a business owner or manager at one of the stores along the commercial strip along Northern Boulevard. Detectives from the 109th Precinct in Flushing continue to investigate the robbery and the two suspects remain at large, police said.
The NYPD released surveillance images of the suspects and their getaway car on Thursday and described one as 5’8” tall with a heavy build wearing a black sweatshirt, blue jeans and black sneakers. His accomplice is described as being approximately 5’10” tall with a medium build. He was last seen wearing a black sweatshirt, tan pants and black sneakers.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website, on Twitter @NYPDTips.
Through Dec. 24, the 109th Precinct has reported 322 robberies so far in 2023, 20 more than the 302 reported at the same point last year, an increase of 6.6%, according to the most recent CompStat report.
