The NYPD is looking for a trio of armed robbers who, in less than two hours, targeted two men across two Queens precincts last month. Following their spree in Queens, the suspects fled to Brooklyn, where they were reported to have bought a case of Corona beer using credit cards stolen during the robberies.
The first incident occurred at around 4:15 a.m. on Sunday, Mar. 24 when one of the perpetrators approached a 62-year-old victim as he walked near the intersection of 106th Street and 34th Avenue in Corona. Police from the 115th Precinct reported that the suspect threw the man to the ground and then assaulted him before forcibly removing his property and then fled in a waiting vehicle southbound on 106th Street toward 37th Avenue. The victim refused medical attention at the scene and a short time later the men used his credit cards for unauthorized transactions at a Brooklyn convenience store.
Shortly after, they terrorized a 38-year-old man who was sitting in a vehicle parked in front of 49-04 111th Street across from the New York Hall of Science in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Police from the 110th Precinct in Elmhurst reported that just before 6 a.m., one of the men opened the door and brandished an ice pick while a second assailant pulled out a firearm. They took the man’s cell phone, credit cards, cash, wallet and jewelry, all valued at $3,000, police said. A short while later, they made multiple purchases, including the case of beer, using the victim’s credit cards at a smoke shop in Brooklyn.
The NYPD released surveillance video of the crew early Friday morning that shows them picking up the case of Corona. One wore a powder blue Yankees baseball cap and a gray hooded sweatshirt, light blue jeans and white sneakers. The second man wore a dark vest over a dark sweatshirt and the third suspect wore a blue hooded sweatshirt with a white Champion logo across the chest with the number 9 on the right arm.
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 Mar. 31, the 115th Precinct has reported 89 robberies so far in 2024, 30 more than the 59 reported at the same point last year, an increase of 50.8%, according to the most recent CompStat report.
Robberies are also on the rise in the 110th Precinct which reported 128 so far this year, 38 more than the 90 reported at the same point in 2023, an increase of 42.2%, according to CompStat.
