Mugging IN my building, yikes

apollonia666

Not exactly the kind of thing one likes to see upon returning home from New Year's Eve parties:



The weird thing is that I was just getting ready to go out and pick up some carryout for dinner a right after 5pm and heard some really angry-sounding, testosteryone-y shouting in front of my building. My apartment's front window is near the front door to the building. The only thing I made out was some guy yelling, "Yo, open the door!" I looked out the window to make sure nothing hinky was happening before going down but didn't see anyone around, so I wonder if this might have been when these guys got in.

I plan to call the 77th precinct today to find out whether this was reported, since the sign in the elevator doesn't say. Does anyone remember the name of the new community affairs officer there?

I only know of one other person in my building who's on this site and I'm about to email her to see if she has heard anything more about this. Does anyone else here live between Classon and Grand on Bergen who has seen this in your elevator? I spotted it around 3ish when I came home and it's still there as of a few minutes ago.

I don't want to be alarmist, and I'm a tiny bit skeptical about the sign -- it could be some stupid New Year's prank or something -- but this has me feeling fairly unsettled. For Jeebus's sake, people, don't buzz in people you don't know!!

mypasswordwontwork

He didn't give much detail. Like whether they had guns or other weapons etc.

apollonia666

mypasswordwontwork wrote: He didn't give much detail. Like whether they had guns or other weapons etc.

Nope, which is part of why I'm a little skeptical. He or she also didn't say whether it was reported to the police.

I'm hoping this is just some stupid, sick joke. So if anyone here is in my building and has heard more, please pipe up!

capt. planet

Is your building part of the old Jewish complex?

pitu

apollonia666 wrote: [quote=mypasswordwontwork]He didn't give much detail. Like whether they had guns or other weapons etc.

Nope, which is part of why I'm a little skeptical. He or she also didn't say whether it was reported to the police.

I'm hoping this is just some stupid, sick joke. So if anyone here is in my building and has heard more, please pipe up!

phooey. doesn't sound like a prank to me.

apollonia666

greg wrote: Is your building part of the old Jewish complex?

No, I'm a couple of blocks north and a block west of the Jewish.

daisy915

I don't think it's a prank either.

Perhaps you can leave your own note asking them to contact you (because you might have heard something and want to know if it's been reported)...or even hold a little building meeting to discuss the events/safetly steps.

mypasswordwontwork

I also doubt its a prank because I can't see how anybody could consider it funny. It was also fairly specific about the muggers - African-American, male, there were five of them, aged 18-25 (although it seems that every 'suspect' I see on the news is male, African-American and 18-25....) That's really scary for you. Are the people in your building really crappy at being selective about who they buzz in?

anonymous

Dudes - you don't need 5 kids to carry knives or guns to scare you if you're threatened. And I really don't see why anyone would be so tasteless as to post this as a prank.
New Year's is amateur night as far as I'm concerned and this is definitely the day of the year when this might happen in an otherwhise calm place.
Rule of thum; if I haven't seen you before and you don't have a key to my building, then don't ask me to open the door - you'll have to ask your friends to buz you in.

apollonia666

mypasswordwontwork wrote: I also doubt its a prank because I can't see how anybody could consider it funny. It was also fairly specific about the muggers - African-American, male, there were five of them, aged 18-25 (although it seems that every 'suspect' I see on the news is male, African-American and 18-25....) That's really scary for you. Are the people in your building really crappy at being selective about who they buzz in?

I'm not sure. I don't often see other tenants except sometimes in the lobby or laundry room. The only time for sure I know someone who didn't live here got in (other than guests or delivery people) was once several months ago when a canvasser for a political candidate knocked on my apartment door. I was a little annoyed someone had let her in to wander around the entire building, but then again, she could have just gotten buzzed in to talk to one person and then stayed. A couple of times this summer people rang my buzzer and then wouldn't respond when I answered on the intercom and I didn't let them in, but that's been several months ago too.

mypasswordwontwork

Anonymous wrote:
Rule of thum; if I haven't seen you before and you don't have a key to my building, then don't ask me to open the door - you'll have to ask your friends to buz you in.

I wish more people had your policy and stuck to it! The smug neighbors in my building have this smug, "crime can't happen to us" attitude that annoys the hell out of me!

What is amateur night?

Do yout think NYE attracts even more burglars and muggers than Christmas Day?

apollonia666

Anonymous wrote: Dudes - you don't need 5 kids to carry knives or guns to scare you if you're threatened. And I really don't see why anyone would be so tasteless as to post this as a prank.
New Year's is amateur night as far as I'm concerned and this is definitely the day of the year when this might happen in an otherwhise calm place.
Rule of thum; if I haven't seen you before and you don't have a key to my building, then don't ask me to open the door - you'll have to ask your friends to buz you in.

Yeah, I think five against one -- especially in our small elevator -- would be intimidating enough without weaponry.

Wondering whether this is a weird prank is probably just wishful thinking on my part. I hope you're right that this is a weird, isolated thing.

mypasswordwontwork

What sort of neighborhood is it? Is there a lot of crime there? A lot of gentrification going on?

apollonia666

mypasswordwontwork wrote: What sort of neighborhood is it? Is there a lot of crime there? A lot of gentrification going on?

Yeah, lots of gentrification in the area, I'd say. It's a block near Washington with several car repair places and warehouses, as well as quite a few older apartment buildings. My building's the only completed new one on the block (it's a city-subsidized building for moderate-income renters, so I don't know if I'd exactly call us gentrifiers -- nobody here is loaded, anyways) and there are two or three new buildings just beginning to be constructed. Within a three or four block radius there are several new apartment buildings and condos in various stages of construction as well as some housing projects. So it's definitely a mix.

My block is usually fairly quiet; the only crime I know of for sure is that that car windows seem to get smashed a lot on the east end of the block (I'm closer to the west end and it's a long block).

alafairnadia

sounds really scary. good luck, darlin'!
xo

mypasswordwontwork

Yeah it does indeed sound scary. Be extra cautious, Apollonia.

apollonia666

I'm usually pretty careful, and I don't take the elevator much (I'm not high up in the building, so I usually only take it if I'm really tired or going to and from the laundry room). But I'm going to be keeping my eyes open until I'm in my apartment with the door locked from now on, that's for damn sure.

For what it's worth, I put a post-it up this morning under the sign asking if it had been reported to the police and the same person (same handwriting, anyway) added a note saying it had been. Calling the precinct now to see if I can find out anything more.

apollonia666

Well that wasn't at all helpful.

The officer who answered the phone at the 77th said he couldn't release any information without the victim's permission. I said, "Can you even tell me whether there were weapons involved or anything that wouldn't identify the victim, since I LIVE IN THE BUILDING?" He said that if the victim were to give me the complaint number I could find out more. That totally smells like B.S. response to me, frankly. Oh, and then he says, "Don't worry." I responded, "Don't worry?! When there's been a mugging IN my building?"

I'm going to try to contact the community relations officer tomorrow after I root around in the archives to find the new one's name.

armchair_warrior

this sucks!

oh since alot of people live in big buildings. you shouldn't let the guy behind you in, if you don't know them. sounds stupid. but thats how sometimes they get in. if they belong there they have their own key.

jaha127

I live in the same building as Apollonia, and like she says our building is pretty quiet. But from the few people that I've meet they seem pretty normal and have commonsense not to let random people in the building. Kids espically, as from what I seen there are NO kids/teenagers living in the building.

Also, the video camera we have in the lobby... wonder if it actually recording anything... as soon as they walk through the door they should've been caught on tape.

apollonia666

I didn't see any po-po around the building either, although I was gone for about half an hour right around the time they would have been there, so I guess it's possible.

I'd have asked the precinct whether they checked with building management to see if they have tape from the camera if the person I spoke with would have been willing to speak with me at all about the thing. It kind of freaks me out that the camera was apparently not a deterrent at all. Makes me wonder if maybe someone left the other door in the basement open instead...

mypasswordwontwork

apollonia666 wrote: I didn't see any po-po around the building either, although I was gone for about half an hour right around the time they would have been there, so I guess it's possible.

I'd have asked the precinct whether they checked with building management to see if they have tape from the camera if the person I spoke with would have been willing to speak with me at all about the thing. It kind of freaks me out that the camera was apparently not a deterrent at all. Makes me wonder if maybe someone left the other door in the basement open instead...

"Po-po"?!

You sound like an extra from Boyz In Da Hood.

bendy broad

armchair_warrior wrote: this sucks!

oh since alot of people live in big buildings. you shouldn't let the guy behind you in, if you don't know them. sounds stupid. but thats how sometimes they get in. if they belong there they have their own key.

I wish more people agreed with this. Just the other day, I was coming in the front door of my building. Some guy whom I didn't recognize was about ten feet or more behind me. I unlocked the door and then closed it behind me. It turned out that he did live in the building (or at least had a key.) As I was going into my apartment, I heard him grumbling angrily about how I should have held the door for him. I just wish that guys like him could have a little more understanding when it comes to this sort of thing. I've been in NYC for over a decade, and many of the muggings or assaults I've been aware of have happened to women who've not closed the front door behind themselves as they enter their buildings.

It's very much in my nature to be the sort of person who holds doors and is generally helpful and chatty. But unfortunately, we have to limit it to only those whom we've gotten to know and trust in order to protect ourselves. I guess I'd rather risk a neighbor or two thinking that I'm a bitch than risk being mugged.

mypasswordwontwork

Bendy Broad wrote: [quote=armchair_warrior]this sucks!

oh since alot of people live in big buildings. you shouldn't let the guy behind you in, if you don't know them. sounds stupid. but thats how sometimes they get in. if they belong there they have their own key.

I wish more people agreed with this. Just the other day, I was coming in the front door of my building. Some guy whom I didn't recognize was about ten feet or more behind me. I unlocked the door and then closed it behind me. It turned out that he did live in the building (or at least had a key.) As I was going into my apartment, I heard him grumbling angrily about how I should have held the door for him. I just wish that guys like him could have a little more understanding when it comes to this sort of thing. I've been in NYC for over a decade, and many of the muggings or assaults I've been aware of have happened to women who've not closed the front door behind themselves as they enter their buildings.

It's very much in my nature to be the sort of person who holds doors and is generally helpful and chatty. But unfortunately, we have to limit it to only those whom we've gotten to know and trust in order to protect ourselves. I guess I'd rather risk a neighbor or two thinking that I'm a bitch than risk being mugged.

I agree. I regularly close the door in men's faces. You have to.

king without a crown

1. The incident isin fact reported at the 77 pct
2. Specific Complaint report information is not made public
3. Its a ood policy to get to know your neighbors, and keep people informed of present crime trends and building conditions.
4. Be alert, Be observent, the more detailed information you provide the Police; the easier it is for the investigating officers.
5. "PoPo" is a term uneducated people use for police officers, and probably is the reason you received little assistance from the precinct.

apollonia666

King without a crown wrote: 1. The incident isin fact reported at the 77 pct

I'm very curious how you know about this.

King without a crown wrote: 5. "PoPo" is a term uneducated people use for police officers, and probably is the reason you received little assistance from the precinct.

There's no way in hell that was the reason the precinct wasn't helpful. I was just sort of kidding around using the term above, and I certainly didn't use it when talking with the precinct on the phone.

mypasswordwontwork

King without a crown wrote:
5. "PoPo" is a term uneducated people use for police officers, and probably is the reason you received little assistance from the precinct.

king without a crown

If I am correct, the incident involved the perpetrators wishing the victim a "Happy New Year" along with a simulated firearm. Which leads me to believe this was a group of drunk thugs having fun at whiteys expense.

blksafyre

mypasswordwontwork wrote: [quote=Bendy Broad][quote=armchair_warrior]this sucks!

oh since alot of people live in big buildings. you shouldn't let the guy behind you in, if you don't know them. sounds stupid. but thats how sometimes they get in. if they belong there they have their own key.

I wish more people agreed with this. Just the other day, I was coming in the front door of my building. Some guy whom I didn't recognize was about ten feet or more behind me. I unlocked the door and then closed it behind me. It turned out that he did live in the building (or at least had a key.) As I was going into my apartment, I heard him grumbling angrily about how I should have held the door for him. I just wish that guys like him could have a little more understanding when it comes to this sort of thing. I've been in NYC for over a decade, and many of the muggings or assaults I've been aware of have happened to women who've not closed the front door behind themselves as they enter their buildings.

It's very much in my nature to be the sort of person who holds doors and is generally helpful and chatty. But unfortunately, we have to limit it to only those whom we've gotten to know and trust in order to protect ourselves. I guess I'd rather risk a neighbor or two thinking that I'm a bitch than risk being mugged.

I agree. I regularly close the door in men's faces. You have to.

You have to watch out for the women as well...

apollonia666

King without a crown wrote: If I am correct, the incident involved the perpetrators wishing the victim a "Happy New Year" along with a simulated firearm. Which leads me to believe this was a group of drunk thugs having fun at whiteys expense.

Hmm. Our building is predominantly African-American and I've only seen a couple of other white people around, for what it's worth.

Anyway, just spoke with Detective McLean and she was MUCH nicer than the guy I talked with yesterday. She said she would look up the info in their system and call me back with as much info as she can without identifying the victim (which is all I was hoping for in the first place).

paraderest

Det. Mclean is getting paid the same as a Lt's pay just to be nice and kiss everybody's butt. It must be nice to sit around in your office, go to a couple of community meetings and get promoted to Det. 1st grade while the hardworking boys and girls upstairs in the detective squad are only 2nd or 3rd grade. What a disgrace.