Last Updated on September 20, 2022
Two New York City robbery victims — including a tourist from Denmark — were shot over the weekend after refusing to hand over valuables to violent muggers in separate incidents, police said. Robbery and other major crimes have spiked across the city over the past year.
The 31-year-old European tourist was approached by an armed robber on the Upper West Side shortly after 3:30 a.m. Sunday, according to a report from the New York Post. The robber demanded that the tourist hand over his wallet and cellphone while indicating that he was armed.
The victim refused to comply and began to walk away, authorities said. “He just kept walking, and the guy shot him,” an NYPD spokesman told the New York Post.
Officers soon responded and found the 31-year-old with a gunshot wound to the back. He was then taken to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital where he is in stable condition.
In a separate incident, a 46-year-old man was approached by an armed robber in New York’s Woodstock section shortly after 11:30 p.m., police said. The victim refused to hand over his phone and wallet, at which point the assailant shot him in the leg.
“He was approached by an unknown male who demanded property and shot him when he refused,” a New York Police Department source told The Post. The victim was transported to St. Barnabas Hospital and is in stable condition.
The gunmen in both incidents have yet to be apprehended.
Robbery and other major crimes have increased by roughly 40% in the city over the past several months, NYPD data indicates. Major crimes in the city so far this year were up 34.8% as of Sept. 11 when compared to the same period in 2021, according to the most recent NYPD data available.
Robbery has spiked 38.9%, to 12,096 incidents from 8,711 in the same period last year, according to the data.