It's yet another broad daylight robbery: A woman returning home with bags of groceries was was robbed yesterday morning at 108th Street and Central Park West. While early reports said that she had been follwed, the NY Post says the robber posed as a tenant, fumbling and looking for keys in the apartment building vestibule. After the woman let him in, he followed her up to her apartment, threatening with a fun gun, demanded that she and her fiance, who had been sleeping on a couch, turn over their wallets, and then he shot the fiance a few times (some reports stated he was shot in the "abdomen and buttocks" and others said "hand, abdomen, and chest"). Given that many New Yorkers don't know their neighbors, Gothamist can sort of understand why one would want to seem neighborly and open the door for someone else. But the waiting-in-the-vestibule is an old trick - the "push-in"; it's even listed in the NYPD's suggestions for Crime Prevention. It doesn't hurt to read them again. [And to revisit the Central Park robbery the other week, the NYPD has tips for the Park Enthusiast: "Don't wear excessive amounts of jewelry or carry large amounts of cash."]
The Post also adds when the robber didn't leave after they handed over their money, the fiance said, "Are you going to shoot me now?" to which the robber replied, "You're a real wisecrack" and then shot him. Gothamist doesn't know what was going through the minds of the victims, but we're guessing it's probably best not to say anything.
