NYC neighborhood unsettled after gunpoint robbery spree: 'It was terrifying'
NEW YORK (PIX11) – Residents of a New York City neighborhood are on edge after multiple people were victims of a gunpoint robbery spree Monday evening.
Police are still looking for a man responsible for at least four armed robberies and carjackings that all happened within Sheepshead Bay in southern Brooklyn. All of the victims are expected to be OK.
In all the incidents, the victims said the man displayed a gun and demanded cash, and at one point the man was able to steal a vehicle that he drove the wrong way down a residential street, crashing into several parked cars.
The man allegedly terrorized at least four people in four separate incidents within a two-block radius just minutes apart in Sheepshead Bay.
The robbery spree started around 7:30 p.m. Monday. The man allegedly attacked a 70-year-old woman in the lobby of her building and stole her purse before taking off, police said.
On the same block, the man allegedly forced a 26-year-old man out of his Mercedes-Benz, drove it the wrong way on East 16th Street, and then crashed into parked cars before ditching the vehicle.
And police say he didn’t stop there. The man also allegedly approached a 40-year-old woman and tried to take her car.
"He jumped in my car while I was parked. He told me to drive and screamed at me. I didn't drive. I got out of the car,” the 40-year-old woman told PIX11 News.
The woman had her keys in her pocket, so the man could not get far and had to hop out of her car.
“I’d literally just parked to get out of the car to go see my mom. We were supposed to have dinner with my family. But none of that happened. It was terrifying,” the 40-year-old woman said.
The robbery spree has unsettled some people who live in the neighborhood.
"It's a quiet area. It doesn't happen here at all," said a Sheepshead Bay resident.
Submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).