Police are searching for four men they suspect are responsible for a three-week-long necklace-snatching spree that targeted six people across neighborhoods in the Bronx and Brooklyn, the NYPD said.
The victims, ranging in age from 16 to 78, were attacked between July 9 and Aug. 2 in a series of robberies that police say often involved the use or simulation of firearms.
The robbery spree allegedly started on Jul 9, in the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, when two individuals, simulating firearms under their shirts, approached a 56-year-old man standing near the Holy Cross Cemetery on Schenectady Avenue at about 5 p.m.
The victim suffered a minor laceration and was treated at a nearby hospital after the suspects ripped the man’s necklace from his neck, police said. The suspects were last seen fleeing the scene in a vehicle that was double-parked nearby.
About a week later, on July 17, at about 4:20 p.m., three men exited a white Honda Civic and approached a 25-year-old man outside an apartment building on Metropolitan Avenue in the Parkchester area of the Bronx, police said.
According to law enforcement, one of the men threatened the victim with a firearm while the other two individuals forcibly removed the chain from around his neck. The three men bundled back into the white Honda Civic and fled eastbound on Metropolitan Avenue. The victim also sustained a minor laceration to his neck and was taken to Jacobi Medical Center for treatment.
Less than 20 minutes later, police said the same three men targeted a 32-year-old man outside a car stereo shop in the Bronxdale neighborhood. One man pointed a firearm, another simulated he had one, and the third removed the man’s necklace before they drove away southbound on Boston Road in the same vehicle. The victim was not injured.
Two days later, on July 19, a 16-year-old boy in Baychester told police he was near Hammersley and Grace avenues around 1 p.m. when three men approached him from behind and stole his chain. He was treated at Jacobi Medical Center for a minor laceration. Police said the suspects fled eastbound on Grace Avenue in a dark-colored Nissan SUV.
Another incident occurred July 26 in Wakefield, where a 38-year-old man told police he was outside a fruit and vegetable store on White Plains Road around 1:47 p.m. when he was shoved to the ground and had his necklace stolen by three men. He suffered minor injuries. The suspects were last seen driving a dark-colored Nissan SUV.
The latest reported incident took place Aug. 2 in the Kingsbridge Heights section of the Bronx. A 78-year-old man told police he was standing outside a supermarket on Courtlandt Avenue at about 2:30 p.m. when a man forcibly removed his necklace and fled on foot.
On Wednesday, police released surveillance footage of the suspects and are asking for the public’s help in identifying them.
Anyone with information in regard to the robbery pattern 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 https://crimestoppers.
