Results tagged “homeinvasion”

A Midtown family was held hostage by its pet cat until rescue workers were able to trap the feline yesterday afternoon. It all started at around 3 pm, when Carmen — a 16-pound Russian blue with diabetes and a thyroid condition — turned on her owners, Rosa Davila and her son Victor Marte, 27, the Post reports.

[UPDATE BELOW] It's so important to diversify your portfolio. With a police sketch of his likeness taped to brownstone stoops throughout the West Village, the fake deliveryman suspected in a string of home invasion robberies has apparently taken his act back uptown. Yesterday afternoon, a nanny entering a West 81st Street apartment with a 5-month-old boy was followed into the building by the suspect, who was carrying a pile of packages. Once inside, he brandished a knife and forced his way into the apartment.

The front steps of brownstones throughout the West Village are now decorated with police sketches of a man suspected in a string of home invasions during the past few weeks. The man has sometimes posed a UPS worker to gain access to five apartments since his first job on October 16th, when he entered the home of an 84-year-old woman on Bank Street after asking her for a glass of water. While she retrieved the refreshment, he fled with a cell phone and a watch.

It's not the Ninja burglar—it's the "Pattern 16" burglar! Police are tracking down a 27-year-old, male burglar responsible for hitting 16 homes across Staten Island in September, after recently nabbing his female partner in crime.

Last night, a man was fatally shot in the head while his father was beaten during an apparent home invasion attempt on North Conduit Avenue in Queens. According to the Daily News, Romeo Antoniello was taking a large amount of cash home from his pizzeria, Romeo's—and the robbers were waiting for him. A police source said, "There was a scuffle at the door and the father was hit in the head, a police source said. "The son comes from inside and tries to help the father. He gets shot in the head." Antoniello was beaten while his 29-year-old son Gerardo died from his wounds at Jamaica Medical Center. A neighbor mourned and worried, "Down-to-earth, honest, hard-working -- great people to have in the neighborhood... I'm in fear for my own life now. If they can push people into their own homes, what's to keep them from coming to where I live?" Police are searching for the two suspects, who were masked.

In January, an 86-year-old woman was attacked when a man who broke into her Springfield Gardens home put a pillow over Vivian Squires' head as he slashed her. The perp also stole her jewelry, cash and car. Yesterday, the police announced they made an arrest—the Daily News reports that the suspect is "career hoodlum Andre Mathis." Squires, a retired corrections officer who required 35 staples in her back and 18 stitches for her injuries, told the News, "I am glad they finally caught him - he needs help." She also added she wants to prevent others from falling into a life of crime, "We are going to organize the Gritty Granny Gang. I am going to be a gang leader. My gang is here to help. Not hurt."

Vivian Squires, the 86-year-old Queens resident who was repeatedly slashed during a home invasion robbery on Sunday morning, spoke to reporters yesterday. And she seems like an amazing, tough lady: "We tussled and tussled and landed on the floor and I was still fighting him, trying to remember all the things I'd seen in the movies, and grabbing him. Maybe my prison experience came back. I spent 21 years as a correction officer. If I had a gun, he'd be gone." Her attacker initially tried to smother her with a pillow, but then resorted to using a knife when she fought back. Squires explained she fought back because it wasn't her time to die, "When you get old you have a tendency to want to sit in the chair and rock and just feel old, and I don't have time for that." She'd also like to meet her attacker—who stole her cash, jewelry and car— and ask him why he did this, but, at any rate, Squires is praying for him.

Yesterday, an 86-year-old woman was stabbed repeatedly in the neck and back when a man broke into her home in Springfield Gardens around 6:30 a.m. Police say the robber broke in through a window and put a pillow over Vivian Squires' head as he slashed her. He stole cash, jewelry and her Chrysler sedan. Squires, who has lived in her home for 50 years, is in stable condition at Mary Immaculate Hospital. A neighbor told NY1, "Why would someone try to hurt her? Just take whatever they want and leave. Don't hurt her," while another said, "I don't understand why anybody would assault, let alone a 86-year-old woman, but anyone for that matter, but in this instance someone who obviously cannot fight back. And whoever did it had knowledge of her being here." The Post reports her nephew was home at the time, but slept through the attack; he is considered a "person of interest."

Nassau County police arrested a 25-year-old man for allegedly breaking into an Island Park home. Police say Andrew Zellinger fled because a 14-year-old girl started screaming—Zellinger had apparently been standing in her bedroom. But police were able to nab him, since, as Newsday reports, Zellinger "left behind one very important piece of evidence when he ran: His personal identification." He was charged with first-degree burglary. Related: Over the summer, a robber returned to the Brooklyn home where he stole $200 because he...forgot his wallet.

A man dressed as a postal worker and an accomplice robbed a home in East Meadow, Long Island yesterday. When the 32-year-old homeowner opened the door, she saw the uniformed man holding a package, but then he showed a gun. The woman was handcuffed and she and her two young daughters were forced into a bathroom. Then he claimed, per WABC 7, he was a "police officer and wanted to know where the valuables were kept." Police are looking for two suspects--more details here. Sometimes home invasion robbers pose as utility workers, needing access to meters inside your house, so be very cautious when opening the door.

The NYPD released these photos of two men suspected of robbing a townhouse on West 87th Street in Manhattan.