Aug 19, 2008 11:59 pm US/Eastern
Serial Mugger Of Elderly On The Loose In Brooklyn
Police Believe Man May Be Behind A Dozen Attacks
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
A day after police released a horrific video of an 85-year-old woman violently mugged in her own apartment building elevator in Brooklyn, some of the other elderly victims believed to have been assaulted by the same young man are speaking out to CBS 2.
Police say there are at least a dozen victims in all, most of them elderly victims, and some of them were accosted so viciously they were choked unconscious during the struggle.
An 80-year-old victim who asked to remain anonymous is one of the victims mugged in her own building on Montgomery Street. She told CBS 2 she was choked by her attacker after he grabbed her in the hallway, and she said she wasn't able to scream because the suspect grabbed her throat.
"He got the pocketbook and took my wallet, but I didnt have any money," she said.
According to police, that attack is one of 12 attacks since June 27 in Flatbush, Crown Heights and Kensington. The victims range in age from the mid-50s to the mid-80s. Most of the victims are women, and many of the attacks happened in elevators.
The robbery of the 85-year-old woman occurred on Aug. 14 in an elevator and the frightening video was released Monday. In that assault, the suspect choked and robbed the woman of $900 and he even took her cane.
In a nearby building on Chester Court, 71-year-old Giselle Gilles says she was severely in the elevator.
"I spit up blood," she told CBS 2.
In a building on E. 18th Street, a 76-year-old woman was robbed in the lobby. She was standing by her mailbox, when she says she was attacked by a man who squeezed her neck and stole not only her purse, but her eyeglasses.
Another victim, 73-year-old Helene Sargent, was attacked on July 25 on Bedford Avenue. Her granddaughter, Chelsea Phillips, says she was robbed of $300 on her stairway.
"The man attacked her from the back, punching her in the face, bruising her face," she says.
Police are hoping someone can identify the young man who did it, and who sometimes was riding a black bike.
Police are offering a reward of up to $12,000 for information leading to the suspect's arrest, and urge anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
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