Headphone Bandits Preying on Pedestrians in Downtown Nabes
Police say two bandits struck five times in Lower Manhattan, including three in one night on Feb. 10. The same team may be responsible for two Staten Island attacks.
| 24 Feb 2025 | 03:00
Suspected robbers as seen on Feb. 10, at the start of a crime spree that has targeted pedestrians in downtown Manhattan five times. Man on left appears older, man on right, aboard the Staten Island Ferry, looks younger. (
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Police say a duo is at work stealing headphones five times across Lower Manhattan, and the same bandits are suspected of thefts on Staten Island.
The suspects on surveillance video appear to be two black males—one older, and one younger—engaged in what cops call a “citywide robbery pattern,” though at present it involves just two NYPD precincts: the 1st in Lower Manhattan, where they struck five times in eight days, and a sixth time in the 120th Precinct on the north shore of Staten Island.
Details are as follows:
Incident #1 (First Precinct):
On Monday, Feb. 10, at approximately 6:58 p.m., in front of 99 John St., two unidentified individuals approached a 29-year-old male victim and removed headphones from him. The individuals then fled on foot, traveling northbound on Gold Street.
Incident #2 (First Precinct):
That same evening, at approximately 7:27 p.m,, at Warren and Church streets, two unidentified individuals approached a 30-year-old female victim and removed headphones from her. The victim was able to recover her property, and the individuals fled on foot, traveling westbound on Chambers Street.
There were no injuries reported in either of these incidents.
Incident #3 (120th Precinct)
Later still that night, at approximately 10:40 p.m., things turned violent. At Merivale Lane and Bay Street on Staten Island, two unidentified individuals approached a 14-year-old male victim. The individuals punched the victim multiple times in the face causing a broken tooth and removed a Moose Knuckle jacket from him.
The individuals then fled on foot, traveling eastbound on Greenfield Avenue. EMS responded and transported the victim to Richmond University Medical Center in stable condition.
Incident #4 (First Precinct):
The crime spree continued next afternoon, Tuesday, Feb. 11, at approximately 4:30 p.m. in front of 31 Warren Street. An unidentified individual approached an 18-year-old female victim and removed headphones from her. The individual then fled on foot, traveling northbound on Warren Street.
Incident #5 (First Precinct):
Two days later, on Thursday, Feb. 13, at approximately 6:44 p.m., in front of 50 Murray St., two unidentified individuals, acting in concert, approached a 30-year-old female victim and removed headphones from her. The individuals then fled on foot, traveling southbound on Church Street.
Incident #6 (First Precinct): Four days passed. On Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, at approximately 10:40 p.m., in front of 107 Nassau St., an unidentified individual approached a 31-year-old female victim and removed headphones from her. The individual then fled on foot, traveling northbound on Nassau Street.
Incident #7 (120th Precinct): The next morning, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025, at approximately 11:25 a.m., on State Street near the Staten Island Ferry terminal, an unidentified individual approached a 16-year-old female victim and removed headphones from her. The individual then fled on foot, traveling northbound on State Street.
There were no injuries reported from any of the Lower Manhattan incidents.
Anyone with information regarding these incidents is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on X @NYPDTips.
All calls are strictly confidential.
