Police from the 110th Precinct in Elmhurst are looking for a suspect who allegedly robbed two women in ten minutes on the night of Wednesday, Dec. 3.
The first incident occurred at around 11:20 p.m. where a 42-year-old victim was standing in front of a rowhouse at 41-27 Ithaca St., when the stranger approached her and snatched the victim’s purse, police said, adding that it contained approximately $100 in cash, credit cards, identification, a wallet and her Apple charger. The suspect jumped into a gray G37 Infiniti sedan and sped away southbound on Ithaca Street toward Whitney Avenue. The woman was not injured during the encounter.
Authorities say the suspect struck again ten minutes later about a half mile away, three blocks west of Frank D. O’Connor Playground, where he approached a 41-year-old woman in front of a multi-family building at 75-12 Woodside Ave. and forcibly removed her purse before driving off in the same getaway car traveling westbound on Woodside Avenue toward the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. The second victim was not injured during the robbery, and the perpetrator was likely disappointed when he discovered the woman’s purse contained only her identification and perfume.
The NYPD released surveillance images of the suspect entering a convenience store and described him as having a dark complexion with a beard and mustache. He wore a distinctive black hooded sweatshirt with a red and white graphic across the chest with matching black sweatpants with the same graphic and black sneakers.
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 confidential.
Through Dec. 14, the 110th Precinct has reported 417 robberies so far this year, 101 fewer than the 518 reported at the same point in 2024, a decline of 19,5%, according to the most recent CompStat report.
