PARK SLOPE — The robber who's been targeting older women in a string of violent attacks held a 71-year-old Park Slope woman hostage in her own home for more than an hour, the victim told DNAinfo New York.
"We have to catch him," said the woman, who did not want her name or photo published.
The petite grey-haired woman said she feared for her life during the robbery, which was the first in a rash of similar crimes against women ranging from 71 to 91 years old in Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Kensington and Ridgewood, Queens.
Police on Friday identified the suspect as Clarence Jones, 64.
The robbery victim detailed the terrifying experience after attending the 78th Precinct's Community Council meeting Wednesday night.
The 30-year Park Slope resident said she was defenseless against her attacker, who struck at 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 11 near Prospect Place and Sixth Avenue, police said. The robber followed the woman into her house, where he tried to tie her up and hit her in the face with a gun, leaving her with a cut lip, police said. He stole about $375 and ran east on Prospect Place, police said.
"It wouldn't have mattered what I had done — if I had had an alarm, if I had had a panic button — I was grabbed in a strong hold and I could not move and I had a gun at my mouth," the robbery victim said.
The woman told DNAinfo New York that the robber "held her hostage" for an hour and 15 minutes.
She said she was glad to hear one piece of good news police shared at the meeting: the suspect didn't wear gloves during one of the robberies and may have left DNA evidence behind, said the 78th Precinct's commanding officer, Deputy Inspector Frank DiGiacomo.
DiGiacomo noted that crime is down in Park Slope — major crime has dropped 28 percent this year, according to the latest NYPD statistics — but said his officers are working around the clock to catch the robbery suspect.
"I can sit here and say crime is great in Park Slope, but it's not when we have a gentleman like this out there robbing the elderly," DiGiacomo said. "We have to catch this guy."
DiGiacomo said the entire precinct, even administrative staff, is focused on finding the suspect. Police have handed out dozens of fliers to neighborhood businesses in the hope that someone will recognize the suspect, who DiGiacomo described as a "very distinct" older man with grey hair.
DiGiacomo also asked that community members watch out for their elderly neighbors and to call 911 if they see someone following an older person. He's also assigned plain clothes officers to trail older people walking alone.
In some cases concerned locals have called 911 after spotting the plain clothes officers following older women, DiGiacomo said.
"We have gotten calls where people said, 'We see these guys following these old ladies,'" DiGiacomo said. "It turned out to be my guys. But that’s a good thing. That means people, they're watching. We need that. We need people to look out for the elderly people."
► RELATED: $3,500 Reward Offered for Armed Robber Targeting Elderly Park Slope Women
Anyone with information on the robberies should call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit tips at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES), then entering TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.
