Police are searching for a woman and a male accomplice after a 35-year-old man reported being robbed at gunpoint inside Claremont Park earlier this week. The encounter took place near East 170th Street and Clay Avenue at about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to the NYPD.
The victim had arranged to meet the woman through social media, sources close to the investigation told News 12 New York. Police sources said he had met her in person once before Wednesday. Investigators said the male accomplice walked up to the pair first; moments later, the woman displayed a gun and demanded the man's property. The victim handed over a bracelet, necklace, watch and wallet containing about $600 in cash, according to police.
The NYPD said no one was injured. The two suspects fled on foot, News 12 reported. Police released an image Saturday of the woman, who has long black hair, a black headband and a nose piercing, and asked anyone who recognizes her to come forward. Police have not released an immediately available description of the male suspect.
The park and the investigation
Claremont Park covers 38 acres in Morrisania and includes outdoor pools, playgrounds and a 1938 gazebo built on the former site of the Zborowski Mansion, according to a park history page.
How to check robbery patterns
For readers seeking longer-term comparisons, the NYPD's borough- and precinct-level reports are updated weekly. The department also provides incident-level complaint data from 2006 through the most recent full year, allowing users to examine robbery complaints in the Bronx or 44th Precinct across comparable periods.
The park also sits close to territory linked to gang activity.
Robbery reports and official crime data
Robbery Complaints Climbing in the 44th Precinct The NYPD's 44th Precinct covers the Claremont neighborhood, and its station house sits at 2 East 169th Street, per NYPD records. That precinct has bucked the citywide trend this year: robbery complaints there rose 7.7% through July 26, 2026, to 154 reported incidents, even as robberies fell 12.2% citywide through the week ending August 23, 2026, per CompStat data relayed by Hoodline in its prior coverage of a similar clothing-sale robbery in the area.
The NYPD launched 24/7 “E-Commerce Exchange Zones” outside precincts across the city in November 2023, offering well-lit, video-monitored spaces where people can meet strangers without an appointment, according to FOX 5 New York.
What Suspects Could Face If Caught
What Suspects Could Face If Caught Displaying what appears to be a firearm during a theft is classified under New York Penal Law § 160.15 as Robbery in the First Degree, a Class B violent felony carrying a mandatory minimum of five years and up to 25 years in state prison upon conviction, according to FindLaw and a New York lawyers' legal-resource site. It remains unclear whether the woman and her accomplice have carried out similar social media setups elsewhere in the borough or whether this was an isolated, targeted encounter.
Anyone with information is urged to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). The Crime Stoppers program offers rewards of up to $3,500 for anonymous tips that lead to an arrest and indictment, funded through private donations to the New York City Police Foundation rather than taxpayer dollars, Hoodline has reported.
