A 58-year-old woman was knocked to the ground last Friday when two people tried to rip a necklace and handbag from her near Bronx Park East and Reiss Place, according to police. The attempt around 12:28 p.m. on July 31 failed, but the suspects got away, and investigators are now asking the public for help identifying them.
According to NYPD Crime Stoppers, two unidentified individuals approached the victim in the vicinity of Bronx Park East and Reiss Place, where one attempted to snatch her necklace while the other tried unsuccessfully to remove her handbag. Neither attempt succeeded, but the struggle sent the woman to the ground before the pair fled. NYPD Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $3,500 for an anonymous tip that leads to an arrest and indictment, and tips can be submitted by phone at 1-800-577-TIPS or by direct message to @NYPDTips.
🚨WANTED FOR AN ATTEMPTED ROBBERY: On Friday, July 31, 2026, at approximately 12:28 P.M., in the vicinity of Bronx Park East and Reiss Place, a 58-year-old female victim was approached by two unidentified individuals. One of the individuals attempted to snatch her necklace from… pic.twitter.com/QftS6PaAM1
— NYPD Crime Stoppers (@NYPDTips) August 7, 2026
A Precinct Bucking the Citywide Trend
The attempted robbery lands in a precinct where the crime type has been climbing even as it falls elsewhere. Robbery complaints in the NYPD's 49th Precinct, which covers Bronx Park East, rose 18.6% year-to-date in 2026 compared to 2025, jumping from 161 to 191 reported incidents through August 2, per NYPD CompStat data. That runs counter to the citywide picture, where overall robbery complaints actually fell 12.1% over the same stretch, according to NYPD CompStat figures.
The corner where the attempted snatch happened sits within Bronx Community District 11, patrolled by the 49th Precinct across Allerton, Pelham Parkway, Morris Park, and Van Nest, per Wikipedia. It's also a stretch of the Bronx with its own civic history: the intersection of Reiss Place and Bronx Park East was officially co-named Dominick Schiano Way, honoring a longtime Community Board 11 member who founded a civilian neighborhood security patrol along the corridor, according to NYC.gov. Reiss Place itself dates back to the 1890s, named for landowner George Reiss, whose property once included a pond used as a local swimming hole before the area was developed, per Forgotten New York.
Part of a Broader Pattern of Daylight Snatchings
This is not an isolated case. Daytime chain-and-necklace snatchings have shown up repeatedly in NYPD public safety bulletins across the Bronx and Queens throughout the spring and summer, as Hoodline has reported on a moped crew targeting victims across both boroughs. Just this week, Hoodline also covered an e-bike-riding suspect who ripped a necklace off a woman in Kingsbridge in broad daylight, and in July, an East Harlem robbery targeted a 69-year-old woman's jewelry in similar fashion.
The Bronx Park East corridor has seen other violent incidents recently. In March, the nearby Bronx Park East subway station was the site of a group robbery in which nine individuals assaulted three victims aboard a 2 train and stole their phones and belongings, a case Hoodline covered at the time. And just days after the attempted necklace snatch, 49th Precinct officers investigated a fatal shooting near Sagamore Street in the same general area on August 3, making a murder arrest later that night, according to the Norwood News.
What Suspects Could Face
Under New York State law, attempted robbery involving physical force or multiple participants is classified as a felony, carrying potential state prison sentences of up to seven years upon conviction, per state penal law. Whether investigators have recovered surveillance footage from nearby residential buildings along Bronx Park East, or whether they suspect any link between this attempt and other recent jewelry snatchings in the precinct, remains unclear. Anyone with information is asked to contact NYPD Crime Stoppers.
