The NYPD is asking residents to help find suspects involved in two violent home invasions in the northeast Bronx over the holidays.
The latest incident took place Wednesday, December 28, at approximately 8 p.m. when a 43-year-old female tenant of the 6-story building at 30 Pilot Street responded to her apartment door-buzzer and went to the lobby to sign for a package delivery.
The victim told police she went downstairs but did not see anyone in the lobby.
When she returned to her apartment, she found a person standing in the foyer displaying a silver and black gun.
The individual then grabbed the victim by her hair and dragged her into the bedroom, where he hit her with the butt of the firearm causing a small laceration on her right eyebrow, according to police.
The thief quickly removed a small safe from the victim’s bedroom and placed it inside of a large black duffle bag.
The individual then dragged the victim by her hair into another bedroom, where he removed another small safe and placed it into the duffle bag, and told the victim to lay on the ground until he left, according to police.
The stolen safes contained cash and personal documents.
The victim refused medical attention at the scene.
The suspect is described as a male wearing dark blue jeans, black and white sneakers, black hooded sweatshirt and a black-and-white skull ski mask.
City Island Civic Association member Barbara Dolensek said she saw an ambulance in front of the property at approximately 8:30 p.m.
Dolensek said she believed the assailant was someone who knew the victim and was familiar with the building.
“(The assailant) knew there was a safe and the back way to get into the apartment building,” she said.
The waterfront building has its own private parking lot that only residents can gain access to, so the assailant likely parked on the streets nearby or fled on foot.
The City Island assault comes just days after a brazen Christmas Eve home invasion in Throggs Neck on Saturday, December 24, in which two assailants got away with an unspecified amount of cash and several electronic devices.
Two males forced their way into a home at 3182 Barkley Avenue, not far from the 45th Precinct – through a back door at 5:40 a.m. and stole money that had been laid out on a table.
The men then forced their way into another room in the house and assaulted a 51-year-old male resident in the head with a crowbar.
The man was treated at a local hospital and released.
Police described the suspects as white, one being approximately 6 feet 1 inch and the other 5 feet 6 inches tall.
Property taken from the home included a laptop computer and three smartphones.
A 67-year-old female resident reported the incident to police. No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information in regards to these incidents 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 www.nypdc
