A man who sneaked through an unlocked window attacked a 63-year-old Rhawnhurst woman, striking her head with a hammer several times.
Capt. John Darby, the Special Victims Unit commander, said a man entered the woman’s ground-floor apartment on the 7900 block of Loretto Ave. at about 12:10 a.m. on April 11 as the woman was in her bedroom changing clothes.
“The male suddenly appears, and there is a struggle almost instantaneously,” Darby said in an April 11 phone interview.
The man struck the woman several times in the face and head with a hammer, Darby said. The woman’s screams forced the attacker to flee, he said.
The victim was taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center at Broad and Olney and was admitted in stable condition, Darby said.
The woman’s attacker was described as white, about 5 feet 6 inches tall and about 140 to 150 pounds. The man wore his dark hair in a ponytail, the captain said. He was wearing a black windbreaker with a white stripe, blue jeans, sunglasses and a black and red baseball cap.
Darby said a neighbor saw the man outside. He said SVU investigators are looking for any more witnesses and any surveillance tapes that might have captured the attacker’s image.
The captain said police don’t believe the April 11 attack is related to any other, but he said two other crimes that occurred in the Northeast seem to have been committed by one man.
In those cases, one on April 3 and another on April 10, young women asleep in their beds were awakened by men touching them, Darby said.
Both incidents occurred early on Wednesday mornings, and entry in each case was through an unlocked ground-floor window, Darby said. The women’s screams frightened the men away, he said.
The April 3 incident occurred on the 10000 block of Jeanes St., and the April 10 crime was nearby on the 10000 block of Ferndale St.
“We believe these two were done by the same man,” Darby said.
The descriptions of the men match: White, 25 to 35 years old, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet tall with a light brown beard and close-cut hair or shaved heads.
Anyone with information about any of these crimes should call the Special Victims Unit at 215–685–3252 or 3253, Darby said. ••
