Police: Robbers Threaten To Kill 2 Victims If They Report Crime
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Two robbers near Lincoln Center gave an unusual twist to ATM theft: On Monday, according to police, they accosted a victim, ordered him to withdraw money from multiple ATMs, escorted him home, and threatened to kill him if he called the police, saying: “We know where you live.”
Bandits fitting the same description pulled off a similar robbery four days earlier. The police said the crimes constitute a pattern.
On Monday at 12:50 a.m., the victim was walking northbound on Amsterdam Avenue. When he reached the southwest corner of 61st Street, the two men – one was pretending to talk on a public telephone and the other was standing beside him – grabbed the victim, threatening him with a silver handgun, police said.
The suspects snatched the man’s wallet – containing $5, an ATM card, and a Colorado driver’s license – from his pocket and directed the victim down the block with the gun pressed to his back, police said. The robbers walked the victim to the Duane Reade store at 4 Amsterdam Ave. at 59th Street, police said, and demanded that he withdraw money from the ATM inside while they waited out front. The victim complied, returning with $200, the authorities said.
Police officials said they did not know why the victim did not ask store employees for help. The store reportedly has a security guard on duty between 2 p.m. and 5 a.m.
The suspects then allegedly led the victim to a bodega at 881 Tenth Ave. at 57th Street, where he withdrew another $200. Again, the robbers waited outside. The suspects escorted the victim through the courtyard of the Amsterdam Houses, the housing development at which the victim resides.
“We know where you live,” the suspects threatened. “Don’t call cops.”
With that, the duo fled. Police officials speculated that the robbers knew where the victim lived because they had sorted through the contents in his wallet.
The earlier robbery occurred last Thursday at 4 a.m. on the northeast corner of 64th Street and West End Avenue, police said. The victim in this case was walking along 64th Street when one man approached him from the front and the other from behind. One of the suspects allegedly grabbed the victim’s bag and took from it an ATM card, $6, a Social Security card, a Blockbuster movie-rental card, and a cell phone. The suspects demanded the victim’s ATM pin, which he gave them, police said.
The victim was told to remain outside with one suspect, police said, while the other perpetrator went into Brian Deli at 153 Amsterdam Ave. on the corner of 67th Street and withdrew $600. The suspects also withdrew money from the victim’s bank account at a Citibank at 162 Amsterdam Ave. at 67th Street. The robbers claimed they had all of the victim’s contact information and threatened to shoot him, officials said. Cash in hand, the men ran into the Amsterdam Houses, where the victim lives.
Police officials said that the suspects were dark-skinned, bald men in their 20s.
Anyone with information is being asked to call the 20th Precinct Detective Squad at 212-580-6414.