Police: Elderly Brooklyn Woman Beaten In Christmas Day Home Invasion
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - It was a terrifying Christmas morning for an 87-year-old Jewish woman who moved to the states after facing persecution in communist Russia.
Police say a man broke into her apartment and attacked her; sending the elderly woman to the hospital.
Luybov Faynshteyn's was still reeling from the early morning break in after leaving Coney Island Hospital Tuesday.
"She said that he grabbed her and started slapping and punching her in the face and in the head," Marina Fedorovsky, the victim's niece said.
"How can you beat 87-year-old? You know he has grandma. He has a grand-grandma. How can you hit a woman and especially an old woman?" Fedorovsky said to CBS2's Marc Liverman.
Federovsky said her aunt was home alone at her apartment on West 25th Street near Surf Avenue and had left the door unlocked while waiting for a caretaker to get there.
That's when the suspect let himself in and started beating her.
"She was trying to get to the table where the panic button was. When he saw her grab it he took it from her," the niece explained.
The senior had already pushed it however, and police were on their way. The suspect then fled the scene. It's not known what the thief got away with from the apartment.
Tuesday night, police released surveillance photos of the man they believe attacked Faynshteyn.
Anyone with any information is asked to call NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or 1-888-57-PISTA (74782) for Spanish. You can also submit a tip via the Crime Stoppers website, by Tweeting @NYPDTips or by texting a tip to 274637 (CRIMES) and then entering TIP577.