Elderly Couple Terrorized In Queens Home Invasion
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An elderly couple was beaten and terrorized during a home invasion and robbery in Queens on Wednesday.
As CBS 2's Tracee Carrasco reported, police are searching for three suspects who posed as maintenance workers and forced their way into the couple's home on 15th Avenue in Bay Terrace.
A 85-year-old woman was struck in the face, and an 86-year-old man was hit in the head during the ordeal, 1010 WINS' Roger Stern reported.
Elderly Couple Terrorized In Queens Home Invasion
Both were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. They were listed in stable condition Wednesday evening.
Witnesses told Carrasco the elderly woman ran from the home with her hands tied, screaming for help.
"There was the poor woman just lying down, face bloodied and her face was totally swollen and bloody, and the poor thing was yelling 'help me, help me, my husband, my husband,'" one man said. "So not knowing what had happened, we helped her the best I could, but she was savagely beaten, and it was just an awful scene."
"She says, 'My husband is upstairs. I don't know if he's alive or dead," Gloria Aimetti, another witness, told Carrasco.
Neighbors told Stern anyone could have been fooled by the suspects.
"You get new people working in the maintenance crew," one woman said. "We don't recognize all of them. What if somebody new comes? You going to assume that they're new on the job and let them in."
Others said they always felt the area was safe, but now they may have to be more careful.
"A lot of these units are upstairs and downstairs, so there's a common door I would generally leave open," one neighbor said. "Now we'll make sure that that door is locked."
The men got away with cash and jewelry from the home.
Police said it remains unclear if the couple was targeted and that the home invasion does not appear to be linked to any kind of crime pattern.
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