THE BRONX — An auto-body shop owner was found dead inside the back seat of his car after a harrowing robbery attempt at his shop in Morris Park on Tuesday night, police said.
The suspects stormed into 1631 Stillwell Ave., near Rhinelander Avenue, wearing masks, gloves and hoodies about 8:50 p.m., the NYPD said.
They then bound two people, a 39-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman who are related to the shop's owner, Robert Bishun, 36, and put them inside the trunks of two vehicles, police said.
"They were able to get free from inside the car and called the police," said NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce.
The victims managed to escape and saw that the suspects and Bishun was missing, police said.
"We then traced the car that was missing from the location to [6071] Broadway over in the 50th Precinct," Boyce said.
Bishun was in the back seat with a zip tie around his neck about 11:15 p.m., the NYPD said.
Bishun, of upstate Gernerville, was taken to Montefiore Hospital but couldn’t be saved.
There are no arrests. It was unclear whether the robbers made off with anything, police said.
"Right now, we're looking at this as a robbery," Boyce said, adding, "There's a lot that we don't know."
