COBBLE HILL — A 29-year-old robbery victim said surveillance footage shows a man waited outside her Cobble Hill home for more than an hour before following her into her building just before the gate closed behind her, she told DNAinfo New York on Tuesday.
The woman, who does not want her name made public, had taken a cab home after dinner and was entering the building near Hicks and Baltic streets at 11:30 p.m. on April 1, according to the victim and police.
Security footage shows the suspect arriving in his car at 10:08 p.m. and remaining in the parked car for almost 90 minutes before the attack, she said. As she opens the gate, the man dashes from his car and grabs the gate just before it closes.
"I don't know whether this person was planning on rape or a home invasion but the situation is that there is a dangerous predator in my building and in my neighborhood and it is imperative that people have a chance to identify him," the woman said in an email sent to DNAinfo with the video in hopes of catching the culprit.
The man — whom the victim described as 6 feet tall and in his late 30s or 40s — can then be seen lingering inside briefly then following the woman, according to security footage.
"I only caught a glimpse of him passing by me in our mailroom, but assumed that he was a neighbor," she said.
The woman then took the stairs to her floor in the building while the suspect continued to follow her, but stayed at a distance.
As she placed her keys in the door to her apartment, the suspect approached the woman from behind and covered her mouth, police and the woman said.
"I was trying to fight and to scream but the sound seemed to be completely muffled," she said.
Credit: Handout
The victim's boyfriend was inside the apartment and heard scuffling sounds in the hallway but he couldn't see what was going on and was unaware she was being attacked. "He pretty much banged on the door to get whoever was out there to go away and I'm so lucky that he did," she said.
The assailant, startled by the noise, fled the building with her handbag, which held an iPhone 6 and miscellaneous credit cards, the victim and police said.
Her street is often dark and quiet, but "I’ve never felt unsafe before this," she said. "This attack was horrifying and didn't feel like a mugging," she said.
Security footage from her building's security camera was shared with DNAinfo. The NYPD also released a video last week.
Police described the suspect as a bald man wearing black shoes, a black long-sleeved sweater and black jeans. No injuries were reported.
Credit: NYPD's Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Public Information
Anyone with information in regards to this robbery is asked to 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 by logging onto the Crime stoppers website or by texting tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
