Cops charge 16-year-old for allegedly shoving elderly woman down church steps as she was headed to Mass, fracturing her skull



New York City police have arrested a 16-year-old male for allegedly shoving an elderly woman down church steps as she was headed to Sunday Mass, reportedly leaving the victim with a fractured skull.

The suspect also stole her purse, which had $300 cash in it, as well as her cell phone and car keys — which he promptly used to steal her car, WNYW-TV reported. The juvenile is facing charges of robbery, assault, grand larceny, and criminal possession of stolen property, the station said.

What's more, police told WNYW the 16-year-old suspect has multiple felony arrests, including robberies of women, on his record.

What's the background?

Surveillance video shows the victim just feet from the front door of Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in the Briarwood section of Queens, WNBC-TV reported. The suspect is seen on video following the 68-year-old woman up the other side of the steps before meeting her on the top step, then shoving her backward. The victim landed on her head, the station said, after which the assailant appeared to rifle through her pockets and take off with her valuables.

"Horrible. I could not believe my eyes, seeing what he did to this lady," Rev. Konstantinos Kalogridis of St. Demetrios told WNBC. "She was coming to church to pray, to participate. I don’t know what kind of a person this is but evil. Pure evil.”

The family of the victim — identified as Irene Tahliambouris — told the New York Daily News she was so badly injured that she didn’t recognize her loved ones for days.

While in a hospital intensive care unit, Tahliambouris is showing signs of improvement, the Daily News added.

“She’s still recovering. Yesterday she started recognizing us,” Daniel Coffaro Hill, 19, whose brother and Tahliambouris’ niece share a child, told the paper Thursday. “She was brushing her hair today, really slow, but she’s in her right mind. She knows who we are now.”

Hill added to the Daily News that her stolen car — a 2006 Nissan Altima — was recovered about three miles away.

'This lowlife is off our streets for now'

Coffaro Hill also took to social media to express his outrage.

— (@)

"This lowlife is off our streets for now, and we are hoping the system will actually do its job this time. We’re tired of seeing criminals walk free because of our soft on crime laws," he wrote. "This thug is another example of how petty criminals feel bold enough to escalate their crimes, knowing they’ll likely get off with a slap on the wrist. Despite this, there seems to be a lack of urgency from both Albany and NYC to implement the necessary legal reforms to ensure these individuals are held accountable."

NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell shared similar sentiments: "Why is this happening? This was avoidable! What part of the process broke down and allowed this to happen???? More to come on this, trust me. To all the stakeholders, now is the time, enough already!!!!"

Anything else?

There are conflicting reports in regard to the victim's condition. WNYW reported she was in stable condition, while the New York Post, citing her family's GoFundMe page, indicated she was in critical condition.

NYC church attack: Teen arrested for allegedly shoving woman down stairs youtu.be

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

'Pure evil': Creep shoves woman, 68, down church steps as she's on her way to Mass — then steals her purse and her car



A hooded, masked male was caught on video shoving a 68-year-old woman backward down the outdoor steps of a church as she was heading to Sunday Mass, in Queens, New York — then he stole her purse and car after she landed on her head on the sidewalk.

What are the details?

Surveillance video shows the victim just feet from the front door of Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in the Briarwood section, WNBC-TV reported. The suspect is seen on video following the victim up the other side of the steps before meeting her on the top step then shoving her backward.

The victim landed on her head, the station said.

With that, the suspect rifled through her pockets, stole her purse, ran off, and then stole her car — a 2006 Nissan Altima, WNBC reported.

"Horrible. I could not believe my eyes. Seeing what he did to this lady," Rev. Konstantinos Kalogridis of St. Demetrios told the station. "She was coming to church to pray, to participate. I don’t know what kind of a person this is but evil. Pure evil.”

Image source: YouTube screenshot

WNBC said parishioners helped the woman, and she was soon taken to a hospital.

Kalogridis — who visited the victim Sunday — told the station it's a miracle she survived the attack.

"She is in stable condition," he noted to WNBC. He added that she's "such a sweet lady. She is a very humble, low-key person.”

Man attacks 68-year-old outside Queens church, robs her while she lays on the ground | NBC New York youtu.be

Police are still searching for the suspect, the station said, adding that detectives have been looking for evidence in the area of 152nd Street and 84th Road.

Kalogridis has a simple message for the attacker, WNBC said: “My message is for him to surrender to the police and repent for this grievous sin he made. Repentance and surrender — and do it as soon as possible.”

Here's another news video about the attack:

Woman punched, shoved down NYC church stairs in brazen robbery youtu.be

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

13-year-old who reportedly slammed elderly woman to the ground is arrested. Video of the brutal incident is hard to watch.



Authorities arrested a 13-year-old girl as a suspect in a violent robbery after she reportedly slammed an elderly woman to the ground hard enough to break the woman's hip.

What are the details?

Police said that the unnamed 13-year-old girl was caught on surveillance footage violently robbing the unnamed 76-year-old woman as she and two other suspects fought to gain access to the woman's Bronx apartment building on Monday night.

According to a report from WNBC-TV, the teen now faces charges of robbery and assault in connection with the incident.

According to previous reporting, police said the victim was entering a lobby at Roberts and Hobart Avenues in Pelham Bay when three suspects converged on her — one yanking her hair.

Surveillance video showed the moment the unnamed elderly woman attempted to shut the door of the building in a bid to keep out the apparent intruders. The suspects, however, were able to force their way in.

One of the teens — who police identified as the "main aggressor" — could be seen snatching the elderly woman's purse while spinning the woman around and throwing her to the ground. A second suspect was be seen smirking and laughing as the 13-year-old grappled with the victim.

According to the station, the three suspects were able to flee from the scene with the woman's purse, which contained approximately $50 in cash in addition to the woman's debit card.

Authorities are continuing to investigate the incident, and it is unclear at the time of this reporting whether the other two suspects will face any charges in connection to the attack.

What else?

The woman's son, Sean, told the station that his mother — who loved to dance with her friends — may never fully recover from the brutal attack.

"For something like this to happen is completely senseless and random violence. It’s shocking and heartbreaking," he said. "She loves to go out and hang out with her girlfriends, she goes dancing maybe once a month at a bar that has live music. She was out that night. She had her dancing shoes on."

Sean added that his mother was always mobile and eager to help out neighbors and friends with their everyday tasks.

"She was somebody that was walking around everywhere and helping everyone else out," he said. "I don’t think she saw the rest of her life using a walker, which is a real possibility ... Who does that? Who thinks that’s OK? And who thinks this, for like three young people to gang up on an old person?"

Grandmother dies after being punched in the face by a 23-year-old. Her grieving brother says he has ‘no earthly idea why’ it happened.



A 23-year-old man has been charged with manslaughter after fatally punching an elderly woman in the face last month in New Orleans, leaving the victim's family questioning what motivated the brutal attack.

"We have no earthly idea why this happened," Jeffrey Johnson, brother of 61-year-old Margaret "Jane" Street, told the New Orleans Advocate on Wednesday. "It won't bring my sister back, but it helps knowing who did it and that they have him."

The New Orleans Police Department reported Tuesday that Jeremiah Mark struck Street with a closed fist in the city's French Quarter on April 19, causing her to fall to the ground and hit her head on the concrete. Street suffered a traumatic brain injury from the attack and later died at the hospital.

The two were reportedly engaged in some kind of argument when the crime was committed, the Advocate noted, though the outlet said details about the dispute were not provided in a sworn police statement filed in court.

An Alabama-born grandmother was fatally punched in the French Quarter, among nine homicide victims reported in New… https://t.co/bwktHkiGHu

— NOLA.com (@NOLAnews) 1619652110.0

The incident was originally classified as a simple battery, but following Street's death and an autopsy, authorities changed the classification to a homicide.

After positively identifying a suspect, authorities released a photo of him to the public, prompting Mark to come forward about his involvement in the altercation. Mark turned himself in to police on April 22, reportedly confirming to police that "he used his hand to push [Street] in the face."

He has been charged with manslaughter and, if convicted, could serve up to 40 years in prison.

Street's family held a funeral for her on Thursday in her hometown of Decatur, Alabama. Her obituary noted that she retired from a job at General Motors and is survived by a daughter and two grandchildren.

Johnson, Street's brother, told the Advocate that he fears his sister's death was the result of a robbery gone wrong.

"It just seems like she was at the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.