Police from the 104th Precinct in Ridgewood are searching for four men who allegedly carjacked a 64-year-old man in Glendale on the night of Sunday, Jan. 14.
The victim was in his BMW near Otto Road and 64th Place at around 6:45 p.m. when four strangers approached his vehicle and one of the men pulled out a handgun and demanded his car keys. The motorist was forced out of the BMW and the four suspects fled the scene in the victim’s vehicle toward 70th Avenue. The vehicle was later recovered and the driver was not injured, police said.
Investigators believe the same four men have pulled off other armed robberies in Queens, although they were not carjackings. The men allegedly robbed four commercial businesses at gunpoint over the past month across the borough.
The men allegedly targeted a deli in Ozone Park on the morning of Saturday, Dec. 30, police said. The four suspects allegedly walked into the deli, located at 92-15 101st Ave., at around 8:45 a.m. and approached a 22-year-old worker with a gun and demanded cash from the register. The victim complied, handing over $100, according to an NYPD spokeswoman. The worker was not injured.
The same crew struck just over a week later in the 111th Precinct in Bayside on the afternoon of Monday, Jan. 8 at the Douglaston Grab & Go convenience store located at 44-29 Douglaston Parkway just off Northern Boulevard. The men allegedly approached an 18-year-old worker and threatened him with a handgun and demanded cash from the register. The teenager handed over $400 and he was not injured, police said.
Just over an hour later, the four suspects targeted another convenience store, this one located at 215-12 91st Ave. in Queens Village. The men walked in the store and pointed a handgun at a 20-year-old worker and demanded cash from the register. This time, the robbers got spooked and fled the location empty-handed, according to the NYPD spokeswoman. The worker was not injured.
The crew struck again on the morning of Friday, Jan. 19, when they hit Mamita’s Colombian Bakery and Restaurant located at 87-04 Woodhaven Blvd. near Jamaica Avenue in Woodhaven. The four men entered at around 5:10 a.m. and threatened a 36-year-old man behind the counter and demanded cash from the register. The worker complied, handing over $600 in cash. The suspects took off in an unknown direction and remain at large, police said. The worker was uninjured.
The NYPD released surveillance images of the suspects on Tuesday and described them as having dark complexions and medium builds. They were last seen wearing black hooded sweatshirts, black sweatpants and facemasks. A reward of up to $3,500 is being offered for information that leads to their arrests.
Anyone with information in regard to these robberies 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.
For the year through Jan. 28, the 104th Precinct, which includes Glendale where the carjacking took place, has reported 12 robberies so far, five fewer than the 17 reported at the same point last year, a decrease of 29.4%, according to the most recent CompStat report.
Over in the 102nd Precinct, where the Ozone Park robbery occurred, there were 13 robberies reported for the year through Jan. 28, five more than the eight reported at the same point in 2023, an increase of 29.4%, according to CompStat.
Robberies are also on the rise in the 111th Precinct where, as of Jan. 28, there were 9 robberies reported so far in 2024, four more than the five reported at the same point in 2023, an increase of 80%, according to CompStat.
As of Jan. 28, the 105th Precinct in Queens Village reported 14 robberies so far this year, four more than the 10 reported at the same point last year, an increase of 405%, according to the most recent CompStat report.
