A Columbia graduate student was robbed at gunpoint in his apartment Saturday afternoon.
Two male perpetrators allegedly gained access to the apartment building, located on 122nd Street between Broadway and Amsterdam avenues, by ringing various doorbells in the lobby until an unsuspecting resident buzzed them in.
Once inside, they entered an elevator with the victim and threatened him with a silver handgun. They then forced their way into the student’s apartment, stole items from him and from his wife, and fled.
The robbers were described as men in their twenties—one between 5 feet 8 inches and 5 feet 10 inches tall, and the other between 5 feet 10 inches and 6 feet tall—both wearing knit caps and jeans. Closed-circuit surveillance cameras captured images of both alleged burglars.
The robbery bears striking similarities to an incident on Dec. 23, which also occurred in an apartment building on 122nd Street between Broadway and Amsterdam avenues. In that incident, two male aggressors allegedly followed a woman into an elevator, displayed a handgun, forced the woman to enter her apartment, and fled with several items.
The description of the suspects in the Dec. 23 robbery is the same as that of the burglars described in the police report on the Jan. 17 incident, the New York City Police Department’s Office of the Deputy Commissioner of Public Information said Monday.
Investigators have made no arrests and have recovered none of the property stolen in either robbery.
The NYPD’s 26th Precinct was unavailable for comment, and the Columbia Department of Public Safety declined to provide information on the crime or the investigation. Individuals with additional information on either incident are asked to contact the 26th Precinct Detective Squad at 212-678-1351.