Man Robbed at Gunpoint After Setting Up Meeting Through Facebook

CROWN HEIGHTS/BROWNSVILLE — A man who thought he was going to buy a few phones and earbuds from a man on Facebook ended up being robbed at gunpoint.

On Wednesday, November 20, around 4:10 p.m. inside the lobby of a residential building at 1760 Park Place, the victim, a 44-year-old man, met with a man he met through Facebook for the purpose of purchasing two cellphones and AirPods (Bluetooth wireless earbuds) cops said.

The man, Derrick Reed, a 23-year-old, who was later arrested and charged with robbery, engaged the victim in a dialogue in the lobby. Then, two other men entered the location and approached the victim. The first suspect showed a handgun to the victim and the second removed $1,000 from him, cops said.

Derrick Reed was arrested in the confines of the 77th Precinct and charged on Tuesday, December 17, for robbery.

The investigation is ongoing and the cops are still searching for the two other suspects: two Black men, one 5’09” and 180 lbs, wearing eyeglasses and a Champion hooded sweatshirt, and the other 5’07” wearing a dark-color hooded sweatshirt respectively. Photos below of the suspects were taken inside of the incident location shortly before the incident.

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, or on Twitter @NYPDTips.