A 45-year-old Flushing man was bound with zip ties, held at gunpoint, and struck in the face with a crowbar early Sunday after a crew of armed robbers forced their way into his home near East 153rd Street and Horace Harding Expressway. The man survived by playing dead, and a housemate hiding upstairs called 911, allowing responding officers to arrest a 17-year-old suspect at the scene while three others ran off.
According to New York Daily News, the attack happened at around 2:30 a.m. Sunday, when bandits armed with pistols and a crowbar broke into the home and attacked the man inside. Police said three suspects brandished firearms while one struck the victim in the face with the crowbar before the group took jewelry by force and fled. The victim suffered minor cuts to his face and refused medical attention at the scene, and officers recovered both the crowbar and the victim's chain. Additional details about the ordeal, including that the victim was bound with zip ties and played dead to survive, come from a report cited by NY Safe Inc., which also described a housemate dialing 911 from upstairs as the attack unfolded.
A social media post from Crime Watch New York City pinpointed the location of the break-in to a private residence at 150-19 Horace Harding Expressway. The address falls within the jurisdiction of the NYPD's 107th Precinct, headquartered at 71-01 Parsons Boulevard and responsible for patrolling central Queens neighborhoods including Fresh Meadows, Kew Gardens Hills, and Pomonok, per Wikipedia. The precinct's footprint along the expressway corridor consists mostly of single-family homes, garden apartment complexes, and institutional properties, where violent residential break-ins remain relatively rare compared to other property crimes.
One Suspect in Custody, Three Still on the Run
Responding officers arrested one suspect at the scene, though charges remained pending as of the Daily News report. Because the arrested suspect is 17, the case would typically originate in the Youth Part of Supreme Court under New York's Raise the Age law, which treats 17-year-olds as Adolescent Offenders — though violent felony allegations involving firearms or physical injury face heightened hurdles against being transferred to Family Court, according to the New York State Unified Court System. The identities and getaway method of the three suspects who fled remain unknown.
If prosecutors pursue the most serious charges, the suspects could face Robbery in the First Degree under New York Penal Law Section 160.15, a Class B violent felony triggered when property is forcibly stolen while perpetrators display firearms, use dangerous instruments, or inflict physical harm — carrying a mandatory state prison term of 5 to 25 years, according to the Law Offices of Robert Tsigler, PLLC. Forcing entry into an occupied home while armed or causing injury can also constitute Burglary in the First Degree under Penal Law Section 140.30, another Class B violent felony punishable by 5 to 25 years, per the Law Office of Jason Bassett, P.C.
Part of a Rising Tide of Robberies in the 107th Precinct
The home invasion lands amid a sharp rise in robberies across the 107th Precinct this year. NYPD CompStat figures cited by Hoodline in September showed the precinct logged 100 robberies year-to-date, a 31.6% jump from the 76 recorded over the same period in 2025. Earlier in the year, the trend was even steeper — local outlet QNS reported in July that robberies had surged 55.3%, climbing from 47 incidents in mid-2025 to 73 by late June 2026.
It isn't the first violent home invasion to hit Flushing in recent memory. Hoodline previously reported that 25-year-old Michael Fan was convicted in absentia for a violent September 2022 home invasion in Flushing, in which an intruder bound and threatened a resident at knifepoint inside her home. Whether investigators believe Sunday's attackers specifically targeted this residence for jewelry remains an open question, and police have not disclosed how the three suspects who fled made their escape.
