Police on Thursday were looking for three people who robbed two teenagers and a man in Lower Manhattan by asking for donations and threatening the victims if they resisted, according to the NYPD.
The trio first approached a 14-year-old boy at Broadway and East 8th Street in Greenwich Village around 2 p.m. on Dec. 24 and requested donations, police said. When he hesitated, they threatened him until he transferred them $350 through a mobile payment app, according to NYPD officials. The suspects fled on foot, and the teen was not injured.
Police said the group surfaced again on Jan. 8, when they approached a 19-year-old man at East 4th Street and Broadway around 1 p.m. and asked him to exchange money. They accompanied him to an ATM, where he withdrew $1,400, according to the NYPD. The suspects fled south on Broadway, and the man was not hurt.
A third robbery was reported on Jan. 11 around 2:30 p.m., when NYPD officials said two of the suspects approached a 23-year-old man at Astor Place and Lafayette Street and asked for donations. The suspects threatened him until he withdrew $800 from an ATM and transferred $1,000 through a payment app on his phone, according to police. They took the money and fled west on Waverly Place, and no injuries were reported, officials said.
Police did not say what kind of donations the suspects were asking for, but described the suspects as males with slim builds who are around 5 feet 10 inches tall.
According to NYPD data, robberies were down to three this year through Jan. 19 in the 6th Precinct, which includes Greenwich Village, compared to six in the same period last year. The data shows there were the same number of robberies — eight — during both periods in the neighboring 9th Precinct, which encompasses the East Village.
Police are asking anyone with information about the robberies to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or, for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Tips can also be submitted on the Crime Stoppers website.
This is a developing story based on preliminary information from the NYPD and may be updated.
