QUEENS — Members of a family, including a 15-year-old boy, were tied up by a kidnapping crew who grabbed a young man off the street, threw him into a van and forced him to give up the security code to his family's home, police said.
The incident was the first of two gunpoint abductions by what law enforcement believes is the same group of people.
In the first kidnapping, a 19-year-old relative of the teen was walking home near 241st Street and 149th Avenue about 3:25 a.m. on March 20 when a masked man with a silver gun smacked him in the mouth and forced him into a nearby van, police said.
In the van, the masked man and some other men forced him to give them his home code, police said.
They then went to the residence and tied up everyone inside including a boy, 15, a man, 59, and a woman, 48, police said.
The burglars then stole about $54,000 worth of cash, jewelry, shoes, credit cards and luxury handbags before fleeing the scene, police said.
The 19-year-old got himself to Jamaica Hospital where he was treated, police said. There were no other reported injuries.
Five days later, the group of men attacked a 33-year-old man as he was walking up to his vehicle near 140th Avenue and 169th Street at about 6:30 a.m., police said.
The victim tried to flee, but the men threw him into a van at gunpoint, police said.
In the van, they beat him and demanded his cash before taking his wallet and dropping him off near 166th Street and 144th Drive, police said.
The victim got himself to Jamaica Hospital, where he was treated, officials said.
The suspects, who police said spoke with "Jamaican accents," hadn't been arrested as of Wednesday, but police released video of a woman who was spotted using a credit card stolen in the first incident in a Nassau County Walmart.
Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS (8477).
