Daniel Maurer The earlier incidents took place nextto 437 East 12th Street.
East 12th Street was the site of an armed robbery for the third time in a month, despite a continued decline in crime in the Ninth Precinct.
In the early morning hours of Nov. 5, two men in a light-colored car pulled up to 529 East 12th Street and robbed a man at gunpoint, Deputy Inspector John Cappelmann said at last night’s Ninth Precinct Community Council Meeting. The victim had stepped out and was smoking a cigarette in front of his apartment when he was confronted.
It’s believed the suspects had committed another robbery roughly twenty minutes prior on West 12th Street, in the Sixth Precinct. Police were able to trace one of the stolen phones to 145th Street and Broadway, and are said to have strong leads in the case, including a description of the suspects and their car.
Despite appearances, authorities do not believe the mugging is tied to the two that took place just a block away, between First Avenue and Avenue A, last month. The more recent incident only included two suspects and involved a vehicle, the precinct’s commanding officer pointed out. “This other group was in a car, and it kind of looked like just a crime of opportunity, and they did it and they took off back north,” said Deputy Inspector Cappelmann.
He added that the suspects in last month’s robberies, who were sitting on scaffolding across from the P.S. 60 building when they encountered their victims, likely lived in the neighborhood. The precinct has not received any other reports of robberies fitting the pattern of those incidents, and no arrests have been made.
