Audubon Blvd Robbery

From: "UHSD Email List" <info@upperhurstville.com>
Subject: Audubon Blvd Robbery
Date: Thu Nov 3 12:35:34 2016

Source: Uptown Messenger

Woman beaten with gun in armed robbery on Audubon Boulevard, police say

A woman in her early 20s was beaten with a gun Tuesday night in an armed robbery on Audubon Boulevard, New Orleans police said, following a weekend spree of four robberies across a wide swath of the Carrollton-university area detectives believe to be the work of a single suspect. Tuesday night’s robbery took place around 10:30 p.m. between Hickory and Willow streets on Audubon Boulevard, according to the initial NOPD report. The victim was grabbed from behind by a man who demanded her purse, and when she struggled with him, he hit her over the head with a gun, then left with her purse, the report states.

Further details on that case were not immediately available Wednesday morning, but earlier on Tuesday, ranking officers of the NOPD Second District held an internal meeting focused on the recent spree of robberies Saturday and Sunday. All four — starting at 1 a.m. Saturday in the 7000 block of Walsmley, then 2:45 a.m. Sunday near Dominican and Cherokee, then 3:20 a.m. Sunday in the 1600 block of Adams, and finally at 8:45 p.m. Sunday — show signs of being committed by the same person, said Lt. Jennifer Dupree, who leads investigations in the Second District.

The link is not so much in any physical description, Dupree said — the suspect in each case has been fairly nondescript, average height and build, clean-shaven with a low haircut but not wearing anything distinctive that would help a potential victim identify him — as his actions. The gun in each case is described as a revolver, which is somewhat less common than a semi-automatic handguns more usually found on the streets.

He has primarily targeted women, with only the Cherokee case involving a male victim at all, who was sitting with a woman who was also robbed, Dupree noted. In most of the cases, he has specifically asked his victims for a passcode for their phone or a PIN number for their bank cards, Dupree said, and he seems to show up suddenly from behind, without the victims knowing he was there.

“It’s almost like he sees them, or he’s following them, and they don’t see him coming,” Dupree said.

Detectives do have some leads, Dupree said. On Laurel Street, the gunman arrived on a bicycle, stole the victim’s keys, left briefly to ditch the bicycle and then drove off in her vehicle, a blue Honda Civic with license plate WWL 646, Dupree said. Neither the car nor the discarded bicycle has been found — suggesting he may be working with someone else, like a lookout — but detectives tracked the car toward Jefferson Parish and managed to find some potential surveillance video of him, which they will release to the public as soon as possible, Dupree said.

Robbery victims can greatly help investigators, Dupree noted, by leaving active any devices or cards that can possibly be tracked, rather than immediately calling to cancel them. Stolen cards frequently lead to surveillance photos when they are used, and stolen electronics frequently have tracking signals.

Using patrols to catch the robber on the streets is more difficult in this case than some others, Dupree said. When a spree of robberies is concentrated in a single neighborhood, detectives can patrol it closely enough that they have a chance of spotting a suspicious person who may be the suspect, or arriving quickly enough after the next robbery to catch the suspect fleeing.

But with the Walmsley and Laurel robberies nearly 3 miles apart, the robberies are too spread out for a concentrated patrol to be effective, Dupree said.

“You can’t just put them in one part of the district,” Dupree said. “He’s hitting everywhere.”

Second District Commander Paul Noel agreed that the investigative leads are more promising, urging Dupree to focus all her investigators on stopping the spree.

“We’ve got four cases that are related,” Noel said. “This guy’s likely to hit again.”

Police have not said whether the Audubon case Tuesday night is related to the four from the weekend. Second District investigators have conferred with the Sixth District about a robbery last Thursday on Prytania Street, but do not believe that robbery is connected to those around the Carrollton-university area.

Finally, in another recent robbery not believed to be related to the current spree, police are still looking for a suspect caught on video after a previous armed robbery July 26 in the 8200 block of Sycamore Street. A woman in her early 20s was robbed at gunpoint by a man who took her credit cards and iPhone, and shortly afterward one of the stolen cards was used at the Mardi Gras Truck Stop located at 2411 Elysian Field Avenue to purchase gas, as shown in the video below.

Anyone with information is urged to call the NOPD Second District station at 658-6020 to speak to a detective, or CrimeStoppers at 822-1111 to leave an anonymous tip that could be eligible for a cash reward.

To see article, go to; http://uptownmessenger.com/2015/08/woman-beaten-with-gun-in-armed-robbery-on-audubon-boulevard-police-say/