Victim Speaks Out After Brazen Gunman Points Weapon At 1-Year-Old
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A brazen gunman held up a woman and a 1-year-old baby outside a home in Queens.
The traumatized woman is in New York on vacation and spoke with CBS2's Hazel Sanchez.
She's terrified to show her face, and asked CBS2 not to share her name after the gunpoint robbery with her 1-year-old niece in her arms.
"I didn't scream because I didn't even know how to scream. I just hold the baby and didn't want her to look anywhere," she told Sanchez.
It happened just after 6 p.m. Friday night.
The 34-year-old victim is visiting from Guyana. She was standing on the steps outside the baby's home on 135th Place in South Ozone Park, Queens.
Surveillance video shows the gunman opening up the front gate and walking up to the house. He heads up the steps and pushes the victim inside.
"When he pushed me in the house, he took the gun out and said 'Give me the bag. Give me what's in the bag.' I said no," she said. "And he keep putting the gun to my rib when I say no and then he put the gun to the baby. And at that point when he put the gun to the baby, I just give him what he wanted."
Video shows taking off down the street with the victim's purse. Inside it is her passport, $7,000 in cash including her personal spending money and rent, plus cash to buy luxury items for a friend in Guyana. She had that friend's two Rolex watches in her purse too, which she planned to hand-deliver.
Police say the suspect took off in a dark-colored car.
"I just been traumatized. I can't sleep. I keep thinking over and over what if, like, I didn't call for the baby or, like, if I'd done things differently," she said.
The victim says the day before the robbery, she was with casual acquaintances who knew what she was carrying in her purse.
Her family is convinced she was targeted.
"I think she was set up. How you gonna be like 'What's in the bag?' So you knew what was in the bag," one family member said.
"I just feel depressed. I get anxiety and panic attacks. I just feel scared all the time," the victim said.
She planned to go back to Guyana next month, but is now cutting her trip short.
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.
