SENIOR BASHED IN QNS. HEIST
Crooks pistol-whip woman, 79, take $1.1M in goods from gem store
A robber pretended to be delivering an Amazon package so he and his partner could get inside a Queens jewelry shop — where they attacked an elderly employee and stole $1.1 million in goods — frightening video shows.
The 79-year-old victim was minding the store while the owner, her daughter, ran to get lunch. The mother now blames herself for opening the store’s locked door and letting in the vicious crooks, who beat and pistol-whipped her before smashing open a display case containing jewelry.
“She keeps saying, ‘What if I didn’t open the door?’ ” owner Eva Cheng, 43, said Tuesday at her Flushing shop. “But I comfort her and say, ‘Mom, they been waiting there. It would be even worse if I came back . ... They would run into both of us.’ ”
The attackers, who ran off and fled in a dark-colored Mercedes-Benz with two other men acting as lookouts, are still being sought.
The NYPD is urging merchants to require anyone who shows up with a mask on — especially if they are also wearing gloves and hoods — to show their faces before entering.
“We see this being used too much as a ruse to enter businesses and victimize our businesses,” Chief of Detectives James Essig said. “The businesses have to protect themselves as we work to protect them, too.”
The robbery happened last Wednesday afternoon at Diamond Collect, on the second floor of a shopping plaza on 39th Ave. near Prince St.
Chen has owned the business for 10 years and meets with customers who call to arrange appointments. She asked her mother, as she often does, to watch the store, this time while she ran out to get lunch.
Chen told her mother that no customers were expected and that she should only open the door for someone she knows. Amazon called her the day before and told her a garbage can she had ordered would be delivered, but Chen told her mother to have the deliveryman drop the package outside.
She did just that, the video showed, while the robber in a two-tone Amazon jacket did his best to appear legit. He even had a scanner in his hand as he checked the store address.
He put an Amazon box in front of the locked door — retrieved an hour earlier from the trash, according to Essig — then waved to the elderly victim.
He went down the steps, the video showed, then returned and rushed the front door after one minute. He and an accomplice forced the victim back inside as she opened the door to get the package.
“It was pretty brutal, what they did to [her],” Essig said. “She gets knocked on the floor, pistol-whipped, both kick her. They drag her to the back to try to open the safe. “It was pretty harrowing.”
Chen, who had the key to the safe, said she is thinking of moving the store to a safer location.
For now, she hopes police find the suspects before they strike again.
Her mother, who was badly bruised on her arms and treated for a blood clot in her head, is at home recovering. But she will need to see a therapist, the memory of a gun pointed at her head still fresh.
“She can’t sleep at night,” Chen said. “Still terrified.”
Anyone with information about the attackers was asked to call Crime Stoppers (800) 577-TIPS.