Police from the 110th Precinct in Elmhurst are looking for two men who attempted to rob an armed security guard transporting money from an armored truck into the Queens Center Mall in broad daylight last week.
The attempted heist unfolded at around 2:10 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 8 as a 53-year-old woman, an armed courier, was approached by one of the suspects as she was entering 90-15 Queens Blvd. at the front of the Queens Center Mall. The perpetrator forcibly removed a courier bag containing $700 in coins causing the victim to fall to the sidewalk, police said.
The victim’s coworker, a 51-year-old man, rushed to her aid and was able to secure the courier bag in a struggle with the assailant. The suspect ran away empty-handed and jumped on to the back of a black scooter operated by the second man. The woman suffered minor injuries to her right arm and the 51-year-old security guard suffered minor injuries to his lower lip. Both victims refused medical attention at the crime scene. The two suspects were last seen riding northbound on Nicholls Avenue in Corona.
The NYPD released surveillance images of the two suspects on board the black scooter on Thursday and described the attempted robber as having a light complexion, between 5’6” to 5’8” tall with slight facial hair. He was wearing a white t-shirt, black pants, and light-colored sneakers. The operator of the scooter was wearing a black helmet, black shirt, black pants and he wore brown boots.
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 at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
Through Feb. 11, the 110th Precinct has reported 57 robberies so far in 2024, 21 more than the 36 reported at the same point last year, an increase of 58.3%, according to the most recent CompStat report.
