Elderly victims targeted in string of Coney Island robberies: NYPD

Police are looking for three young men who investigators say attacked and robbed several people over the past month in Coney Island, including an 82-year-old woman and a 78-year-old man.

The NYPD has released photographs of the suspects on Monday.

All of the Brooklyn robberies happened within a few blocks of each other.

Two of the five attacks took place on Dec. 29, police said. At about 11:30 a.m., an 82-year-old woman was allegedly approached from behind, then pushed to the ground at Mermaid Avenue and West 35th Street. The assailants grabbed her pocketbook, which had $350 in cash, and ran off.

Less than an hour later, a 62-year-old woman told police that three men kicked her in the back outside her apartment building on West 33rd Street. She fell to the ground and hit her head, police said. The three ran off without taking any money.

Two days before that, a 78-year-old man was in the hallway of an apartment building on West 30th Street at about 3:30 p.m., when three men approached and tried to hit him, police said. The group stole $160 cash, a bank card and other items before running off.

The other two incidents happened on Dec. 19 outside an apartment at West 33rd Street, where a 68-year-old man was punched in the face and robbed of $120; and on Nov. 30, when a 61-year-old woman was robbed of her purse.

Anyone with information about any of the recent attacks should call the NYPD Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-8477, or for Spanish 888-577-4782. Tips can also be submitted at the Crime Stoppers website at nypdcrimestoppers.com or by texting to 274637, then entering TIP57. All calls are confidential.