Police from the 109th and 110th precincts are looking for a scooter-riding robber who targeted at least 10 people at knifepoint in just over a month beginning in late October, according to the NYPD.
Police say the unidentified man struck for the first time in Queensboro Hill on the morning of Monday, Oct. 27, near the athletic fields at Kissena Corridor Park, when he approached a 36-year-old man at Oak Avenue and Colden Street on a black motorized scooter at around 6:20 a.m. The suspect pulled out a knife and removed the victim’s bag, wallet and approximately $700 in cash before tossing the bag away and riding off toward Kissena Boulevard, police said.
He struck again in Queensboro Hill on the night of Wednesday, Oct. 29, when he rode up alongside a 39-year-old woman at Elm Street and Murray Street at around 11:20 p.m., pulled out a knife and demanded her property. He took around $80 before riding away eastbound on Elm Street toward 156th Street, police said.
The perpetrator allegedly targeted two more people on Halloween, starting in Queensboro Hill two blocks north of the Long Island Expressway, just after 7:45 a.m. The suspect was riding the black motorized scooter near 59th Avenue and 153rd Street, where he approached a 50-year-old woman, threatened her with a knife, and demanded her property, according to the NYPD. He took her bag, opened her wallet, removed $200 in cash, and sped away eastbound on 59th Avenue toward Kissena Boulevard.
Police say he made his first foray in the 110th Precinct about a half-hour later, four miles to the west in Corona, where he rode up on a 33-year-old woman near 41st Avenue and 108th Street, a block south of Roosevelt Avenue. He pulled out the knife and demanded her property before snatching a chain from her neck and taking her wallet containing an unknown amount of cash, police said. He then rode off northbound on 108th Street toward Roosevelt Avenue.
His first four victims were not injured, but that would change the next day when the suspect returned to Queensboro Hill.
At 7:30 a.m., on Saturday, Nov. 1, he allegedly rode up to a 52-year-old man at 58th Avenue and 153rd Street, across from the athletic fields at Kissena Park, where he threatened the victim with the knife and then slashed him across the head, causing a laceration, police said. He then snatched the victim’s backpack, which he tossed away before speeding off eastbound on 58th Avenue toward Kissena Boulevard.
Police from the 109th Precinct responded to the scene where they found the injured man. EMS transported him to New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.
About 15 minutes later, police say the suspect rolled up on a 56-year-old man a mile to the west, at Avery Avenue and College Point Boulevard, a block north of Flushing Meadows Corona Park, where he threatened the victim with the knife and forcibly removed his backpack and $300 in cash before riding off westbound on Avery Avenue toward the Van Wyck Expressway.
About an hour and a half later, the suspect returned to Corona, where he approached a 36-year-old woman near the intersection of 46th Avenue and 102nd Street. He allegedly threatened the victim with the knife and attempted to take her property, but she resisted, and he rode away empty-handed, police said.
Five minutes later, he tried again, a block to the east, when he rode up alongside a 21-year-old woman at the Long Island Rail Road underpass at 45th Avenue and 104th Street at 9:20 a.m. After threatening her with the knife, he forcibly removed her handbag and removed an unknown amount of cash before speeding off eastbound on 45th Avenue toward 108th Street, according to the NYPD.
The one-man crime spree continued three days later back in Queensboro Hill, when the suspect allegedly rode up to a 69-year-old man near Beech Avenue and Kissena Boulevard on the night of Tuesday, Nov. 4, pulled out the knife and demanded money at around 8:10 p.m. He took approximately $700 in cash before riding off towards Kissena Corridor Park, where he targeted a 54-year-old woman about 25 minutes later as the victim was walking near 58th Road and 136th Street. The suspect pulled out the knife and took her cell phone and an unknown amount of cash before riding off westbound on 58th Road, police said. She was not injured during the encounter, and neither were the other victims, except for the 52-year-old man who was slashed near Kissena Park on Nov. 1.
The NYPD released surveillance images of the suspect, but could not provide a description because he wore a motorcycle helmet.
A reward of up to $3,500 is being offered for information that leads to his arrest and indictment.
Anyone with information regarding these robberies is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 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 Nov. 16, the 109th Precinct has reported 218 robberies so far in 2025, 48 fewer than the 266 reported at the same point last year, a decline of 18%, according to the most recent CompStat report. Robberies are also down in the 110th Precinct with 381 reported so far this year, a hundred fewer than the 481 reported at the same point in 2024, a decrease of 20.8%, according to CompStat.
