An armed man lurking in the hallway of a Bronx apartment building grabbed and raped a 70-year-old woman who walked by him, police said Tuesday.
The victim was coming into the building in Belmont about 2 a.m. July 27 when the suspect — his face covered with two masks, one red, the other black — snatched her from behind, pulled out a gun and forced her into a nearby stairwell, cops said. He then sexually assaulted and raped her at gunpoint.
The rapist ran off a few minutes later, police said.
The victim didn’t call authorities until Monday after taking a private ambulance to the BronxCare Health System for a medical check-up, police said.
The NYPD’s Bronx Special Victims Squad is investigating. There were no immediate arrests.
But detectives canvassing the building recovered surveillance images of the suspect before he put on his face masks.
The video shows the man, wearing a black do-rag and a hooded sweatshirt, pulling a silver firearm from his pants as he walks up the stairs toward the victim, a red mask in his hand.
When he left the building, he had already taken off his sweatshirt and stepped out into the night wearing a white T-shirt, the video shows.
Anyone with information is urged to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.
As of Sunday, cops were investigating a 3% increase in rapes this year, from 817 to 842, officials said.