Queens, New York – A teenager in Queens has been arrested and charged in connection to a violent attack on a 68-year-old woman outside a church, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz on Friday. The suspect, a 16-year-old whose identity is being withheld due to his age, is also implicated in another robbery that took place just days earlier, as per Katz.
“The brutality exhibited in the alleged robbery at the church deeply impacted the city,” Katz stated. “The defendant is accused of robbing an elderly woman by pushing her down the stairs, taking her purse, and abandoning her while fleeing in her car.”
The incident occurred on a Sunday as the victim was on her way to the church. The teenager reportedly ran up the stairs, shoved the victim, causing her to fall backward and hit her head on the concrete, surveillance footage revealed.
After taking the victim’s purse which contained $300, a cellphone, a credit card, and car keys, the suspect fled in her Nissan Altima.
The victim sustained critical injuries and was left in critical condition following the attack, according to the NYPD. The suspect was apprehended near his residence by the authorities on Thursday.
In addition to the church robbery, the teenager is also accused of another robbery on April 4, where he allegedly followed a woman into an elevator, demanded money and her vehicle keys, and brandished what appeared to be a weapon. The victim complied, surrendering her belongings as the suspect left the scene in her car, captured on surveillance footage.
The teenager faces a multitude of charges for the church robbery, including assault in the first degree, robbery in the first degree, assault in the second degree, grand larceny, and criminal possession of stolen property. For the April 4 incident, he faces charges of robbery, grand larceny, menacing, and unauthorized use of a vehicle, carrying a maximum sentence of up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
Matthew Euzarraga, a multimedia journalist hailing from El Paso, Texas, has been covering local news and LGBTQIA topics in the New York City Metro area since 2021, joining the PIX11 Digital team in 2023. You can find more of his work online.