Two men are suspected of forcing their way into a home on 104th street and West End Avenue on Saturday and beating a couple with a flashlight. Police are now asking for the public’s help in identifying them. The men can be seen in the video at the bottom of this post. Police sent the following description of the crime, which we first reported on this weekend.
“The New York City Police Department is asking the public’s assistance identifying the suspects wanted for a robbery within the confines of the 24 Precinct. Details are as follows:
On Saturday, July 12, 2014, at 0350 hours, the suspects knocked on the door of an apartment building in the Upper West Side of Manhattan and when victim #1, a 24-year-old female, answered the door, forced their way in. Once inside, the suspects assaulted victim #1 and victim #2, a 32-year-old male, with metal flashlight and then fled the apartment with no property.
Both Victims #1 and #2 were removed to St Luke’s Hospital with trauma to the head and face. Victim #1 was treated and released while Victim #2 was admitted for observation and is listed in stable condition.
Suspect #1 is a white male in his late 40’s, early 50’s, 6′-6’2″ tall, weighing 200 pounds with a bald head.
Suspect #2 is a white male, 40 years old, 5’8″-5’10” tall, weighing 200 pounds with black hair.
Anyone with information in regards to this robbery is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS.
The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers Website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or texting their tips to 274637(CRIMES) then enter TIP577.”
Who opens the door to a stranger at 4:00 in the morning? Something very strange about this story.
I agree. My first thought would be to call the front desk, or if the situation seemed threatening, to call 911. Definitely not to open the door!
Assuming this was a 24 hour doorman building. Still, opening the door at any time without knowing the person is not exactly smart.
Scary. I’m guessing that the police didn’t have access to the video when they made those descriptions, because I don’t see how they have one guy at 5’8″ and the other at 6’2″ when they’re the same height.
I know I’m totally playing Devils advocate, but at 4:00 AM in a doorman building, I may have assumed it was one of my elderly neighbors perhaps having an emergency! I’m not saying that answering the door was the smart thing to do, but I don’t think her decision to do so necessarily has to be attributed to anything more than poor judgement.
@H.H. the article didn’t say anything about a doorman building.
Christina, the original Post article said they “got past a doorman.” of course it copuld have been inaccurate…
https://www.westsiderag.com/2014/07/12/two-injured-in-home-invasion-on-104th-victims-fight-back
I think it’s sometimes second nature to open the door when someone knocks on the door and shouts “Police.” Something, though, seems off about this case.
According to reports, the victims were assaulted…but nothing was stolen from the residents.
It seems that there was another motive here besides home invasion/robbery, right?
Also, FWIW: We had plain clothes police officers come to my building a couple months ago. I very politely said, “You look like a police officer, Sir, but can you show me ID before I unlock the door? One can never be too careful.”
With that, he reached under his shirt and pulled out his necklace-badge. He smiled and agreed that asking to see a shield is appropriate.
I had a similar situation a few years ago with cops banging on my door in the middle of the night, and I too asked to see a badge through the peephole. But I agree that something seems “off” about this case–many of the articles mention that the intruders attempted to steal the couple’s dog. It’s either a very rare and expensive breed, or the intruders knew the victims and the motive was more about revenge than money.
I never answer the door for anyone; day or night. 0% chance of this happening to me. If I don’t know that you are coming, or you haven’t informed me that you are coming, don’t bother knocking on my door.
These guys look to me like thugs hired by a landlord to harass tenants. Maybe the landlord is trying to frighten tenants out of the building.
They look like cops to me!
I was responding to Nick’s comment that they looked liked
thugs…they looked like two men who knew were they were
going with a purpose. The building has a desk with a lobby
attendant, they must have acted with a sense of authority
not to have been questioned by the attendant. About 14 years ago about 1AM the secret service stopped in as they were escorting an ex-president home when he needed the use of a bathroom and they were asked to show ID, which they did. I assume , in this case, they showed something even
if it’s only the attitude of the police or the demeanor or both.
absolutely! yes inspector!
its the Landlord!
just like the Butler did it.