Inwood Man Killed In Neighborhood Jewelry Robbery: NYPD

INWOOD, NY — A 28-year-old Inwood resident was killed in a neighborhood jewelry robbery Thursday, police announced on Sunday.

Joel Vasquez, who lived near 221 Sherman Avenue, was standing outside his car at Sherman Avenue and West 204th Street on Thursday morning when two men approached him, flashed a gun, and went to remove his jewelry, police said.

Vasquez refused to hand over his chain, and one of the robbers shot the 28-year-old, striking him in the body, police said.

Emergency services rushed Vasquez to NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, where he died a short time later.

The two robbers fled the location, but NYPD did release photos Saturday of the two men wanted in connection to the incident.

Vasquez, who had a one-year-old son, was returning from the nearby Opus Lounge nightclub when he was attacked, according to the Daily News.

The deadly shooting on Thursday is the latest in a string of jewelry-related robberies that have happened in Inwood over the past month.

On June 11, in the area of 565 West 207th Street, four people ran up on a 23-year-old man, grabbed him, and began attempting to remove his jewelry, according to police.

After the man resisted, one of the attackers fired a gun multiple times, hitting the 23-year-old in his chest, butt, and leg, police said. The group then ripped a watch off the man’s hand and fled in a white Mercedes-Benz driven by a fifth individual, a police spokesperson told Patch.

The 23-year-old was taken to Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in stable condition.

Ten days later, Milton Grant, was sitting in a car with a friend at 175 Dyckman Street when a group of attackers rushed the car and shot him in the head. A surveillance video shows the man who shot Grant jumping into the car and taking his chain, watch and ring, while the Queens resident died in the driver’s seat.

The other passenger was also shot and had his chain necklace stolen, but survived, police said.

Anyone with information in regard to the violent robberies is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).

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