BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — The shock of four home invaders was too much stress for the already weakened heart of a 91-year-old man who died of cardiac arrest after he and his 100-year-old wife were tied up during a push-in robbery, the Medical Examiner ruled Thursday.
Waldiman Thompson was killed and his wife, Ethlin Thompson, injured when a group entered their home on Decatur Street near Marcus Garvey Boulevard around 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, the NYPD said.
“The cause of death is sudden cardiac death following home invasion with robbery and restraint in a person with hyptertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease,” said the city's Chief Medical Examiner, Barbara Sampson. “The manner of death is a homicide.”
Investigators were questioning a relative in connection with the incident, but he hadn't been charged as of Friday morning, police sources said.
Ethlin Thompson managed to untie herself and call 911 during the harrowing episode. She was taken to Kings County Hospital with rope burns, where she was held until Thursday evening as a precaution, police sources said.
Waldiman Thompson was taken to Inferfaith Hospital where he died, the NYPD said.
Ethlin spent about two hours with detectives inside the home Thursday evening, walking them through the robbery trying to figure out what may have been stolen, sources said.
"Her spirits are fair because she's a very strong woman," her grandniece Jerlene Thorne said. "She was happy to see us, and her family puts a smile on her face."
Family and friends said Ethlin was "the matriarch of the family" and a devout Christian.
"She and her husband would always sit out there with a little radio and everybody would say hi," neighbor Virginia Thorne said. "She was such a good wife to him. Every man should pray they have a woman like her."
"It burns my heart what happened," Thorne added.
