Police from the 112th Precinct in Forest Hills and the 107th Precinct in Fresh Meadows are looking for two robbers who targeted postal workers in broad daylight last month to steal mail keys from their victims.
The first incident occurred just before 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 21, when the two suspects followed a 48-year-old mailman into an apartment building at 102-35 64th Rd. in Forest Hills. One of the perpetrators appeared to threaten him with a black handgun, saying “I have a gun; give me your keys,”
The two assailants punched the postal worker multiple times in the face before forcibly removing the keys to his U.S. Postal Service truck. They also snatched his mailbox keys before driving off in a black sedan in an unknown direction. The victim sustained minor injuries during the beating and was transported to Long Island Jewish Forest Hills/Northwell Health Hospital for treatment.
The following day, the same men pulled up behind another USPS truck near the intersection of 166th Street and 76th Road in Fresh Meadows just before 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 22. This time, the robbers stepped out of a red sedan and approached a 51-year-old mailman. While one of the perpetrators appeared to pull out a black handgun, the other began demanding his mail keys. The postal worker complied, and the two robbers returned to the red sedan and sped away from the scene in an unknown direction. The mailman was not injured during the robbery.
An NYPD spokesman could not say if the stolen keys had been used in mail thefts in both areas since the robberies last month.
The NYPD released surveillance video of both heists, in which the suspects were masked up. One wore a gray hooded sweatshirt, dark pants and dark sneakers, while the gunman wore a black hooded sweatshirt and dark sweatpants with white lettering on both articles of clothing. Both wore blue latex gloves. In the Fresh Meadows robbery, both wore black hoodies, black pants and blue gloves.
Anyone with information regarding 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 at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
Through Sept. 1, the 107th Precinct has reported 79 robberies so far in 2024, 15 fewer than the 94 reported at the same point last year, a decrease of 16%, according to the most recent CompStat report. Through Sept. 1, the 112th Precinct reported 57 robberies so far this year, 11 more than the 46 reported at the same point in 2023, an increase of 23.9%, according to CompStat. The precinct is also seeing a slight uptick in assaults, with 69 reported so far in 2024, one more than the 68 reported at the same point last year and an increase of 1.5%, according to the latest CompStat report.
