Thieves Target Elderly People Across City in Latest Round of Robberies

What to Know

  • Thieves have been targeting elderly men and women across the city in unrelated robberies, some of them violent
  • Victims in their 70s, 80s and 90s have been targeted, with two high-profile cases in Manhattan and the Bronx
  • In those two cases, elderly women in wheelchairs were targeted by thieves in broad daylight

Thieves snatched a purse from an 84-year-old woman in the Bronx on Wednesday — the latest in what has been a series of unrelated attacks, some of them violent, on older and elderly people across the city. 

The two hooded men grabbed the purse from the woman as she sat on a bench at a bus stop at 1635 East 174th Street in Bronx River just before 6 a.m.

Video released by police appears to show the suspects rummaging through the woman's purse in an elevator at 1630 East 174th Street.

That wasn't the only attack on an elderly person in the Bronx in recent days. A 71-year-old man was punched in the face and knocked to the ground last Friday in Allerton, according to police. The robber then took the man's wallet and ran away.

Police said they're looking for 26-year-old Remington Soler in that case. The victim was taken to Jacobi Hospital for his injuries. 

Earlier this month a 72-year-old man woman was approached from behind and punched across her face near Cortland Avenue and 154th Street in Melrose, Bronx. The two men in that attack then grabbed the woman's bag and took off down East 154th Street. The woman refused medical attention.

And last month in Ozone Park, Queens, a 61-year-old woman was attacked by men who tried to grab her bag. When she fought back, the men threw her to the ground, punched her in the face and grabbed her belongings. They then took off in a silver Chrysler Sebring. The victim was treated at the scene. 

Although the robberies happened throughout the month of September and August, police released information about them on Thursday. There's no indication that the robberies are related. 

The latest news of more thieves targeting vulnerable people comes after a week of high-profile robberies in the Bronx and Manhattan. 

A 37-year-old woman was arrested in the Bronx Tuesday in the robbery of an 86-year-old woman in a wheelchair.

And a 93-year-old East Harlem woman in a wheelchair was robbed of her Social Security money last week. A 26-year-old man was arrested in that case. 

Last month, surveillance video showed a man pushing a 74-year-old man down a staircase in a robbery in the Bronx. The suspect is still on the loose in that attack. 

The NYPD asks anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS. 

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