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PELHAM, N.Y. Detectives from several Westchester Police Departments met in Pelham to discuss multiple armed robberies that have happened over the past few weeks.
The 90-minute meeting included detectives from the police departments of Pelham, Larchmont, the village of Mamaroneck, the town of Mamaroneck, Harrison, the Metro Transit Authority Police Department, Rye and New Rochelle.
The Village of Mamaroneck and Harrison were the latest communities to be hit in a string of six armed robberies, which have all been similar. In all six cases, the victims described the suspect as a black male, 5 foot 10 inches to 6 feet tall, who weighs between 175 to 200 pounds and was wearing dark clothing in addition to a black ski mask.
The suspect approaches the victim from behind with a black semi-automatic gun and tells them to lie on the ground, which is when he robs the victims of their property. All of the robberies have occurred by the train station of each community.
Detective John Hynes of the Pelham Police Department now believes it is a group of individuals, instead of just one suspect.
At this time, yes, I believe it is connected, said Hynes. This description is close. Im not saying its the same guy, but I definitely believe its the same crew. At this point, it sounds like there might be more than one, but theyre similar in how they approach the victims. The same with displaying the weapon and covering their face with a ski mask.
The first robbery occurred in Pelham on Jan. 12 and was followed by a robbery in the town of Mamaroneck on Jan. 17. Another robbery took place in Pelham on Jan. 31 and the fourth robbery took place in New Rochelle on Jan. 29. On Thursday night, a robbery occurred in Mamaroneck and then Harrison.
We had a nice meeting today, Hynes said. We brainstormed issues. With all of us together, we got some new ideas. We have some new avenues that we are going to take now. Weve got a couple of more leads were following. Were definitely working closely together. We shared each others emails and cell phone numbers.
Hynes believes that the meeting was worthwhile because of how much information the departments were able to share.
The only goal is to get an arrest and a conviction, Hynes said of the end result. With some of the information were getting from the other agencies, its helping us at the Pelham Police Department to further our investigation.
Hynes said that he raced to the Village of Mamaroneck when the incident happened last night to meet with their detectives. Then he and the detectives of that village went over to Harrison once they heard of the second robbery.
Hynes added that his officers stopped and searched the train that was headed from Mamaroneck into Pelham just in case the suspect was on it.
We stopped that train, Hynes said. Our officers walked through that train from the first car to the last car.
However, the detectives still believe that a getaway vehicle is used and not the Metro-North train.
Were under the impression that a vehicle is still used, but were not gonna rule anything out, Hynes said. There was a possibility that the guy might have taken the train due to the fact that Mamaroneck and then Harrison would be the next train stop in that period of time.
While the detectives have not solved the investigation yet, it is moving in the right direction, according to Hynes.
We did not hit a brick wall yet. Were definitely moving. Its maybe not moving as fast as some people wish, including myself, but it is moving. Ill tell you right now, as I said before, were literally putting 100 percent into this trying to make an arrest.
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