Two men walked into a Queens jewelry store in the middle of the afternoon, whacked a woman in the head with a weapon and kicked her, then stole $500,000 worth of merchandise before running off, authorities say.
The 79-year-old woman suffered injuries to her head and is frightened after the 2:30 p.m. heist at the 39th Avenue store Wednesday, according to her daughter, but she is now recovering. The victim was watching over the store at the time of the robbery.
Surveillance video shows one of the robbers, who appears to be wearing an Amazon delivery worker jacket, lured the woman to open the front door.
"My mom didn’t open the door because, for security reasons, we usually ask the delivery man to drop off at the front door. My mom thought the guy left," said Eva Cheng, the victim's daughter.
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Instead, the fake delivery man was hiding not to far from the front door, waiting to pounce once the woman comes to open the door and grab the box. Video shows that the attacker ran to the woman, identified by her daughter as Yuchi Lin, and pushes her inside. His accomplice then follows them inside.
Once inside the high-end store, police said the suspects smashed displays and put their ill-gotten gains into a brown Amazon box. The NYPD put out a short surveillance video of the clip that shows both men pull out guns at various points and start trashing the store.
"They took her into the office and forced her to open the safe. She kept saying she doesn’t have the key," said Cheng, adding that someone had even placed a call to confirm the delivery just minutes before the men arrived. She is now alerting others to be on the lookout for that same ploy.
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The dastardly duo was last seen running north on Prince Street, officials said. While police said they made off half a million dollars' worth of stolen goods, Cheng said it may be more than twice that much.
"I would say more than a million dollars," she said. "I sell diamonds, colored diamonds, more like precious investments kind of diamonds."
Cheng said that the incident is the last straw for her: After a decade of operating the store in Flushing, she will be leaving the location for another venue.
"I feel really insecure, and I am done with here. I won’t allow this to happen to me again," said Cheng.
In a statement, Amazon said that they "have not confirmed if the person involved delivers packages for Amazon, but are coordinating with law enforcement as they investigate."
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
