A 91-year-old Brooklyn man has died and his 100-year-old wife was injured after a Brooklyn home invasion, ABC News reports.
The incident occurred Wednesday around 3:30 p.m in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. Waldiman and Ethlin Thompson were at home when several robbers barged into their home. The robbers threw a blanket over Ethlin Thompson’s head before tying the couple up.
Ethline was able to free herself and run outside to alert authorities. When the police arrived, they found Waldiman unresponsive. “Officers entered the apartment and found her husband tied up, lying on the floor and he was unresponsive,” said Deputy Chief Michael Kemper. The police tried to perform CPR on him before an ambulance took him to Interfaith Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 4:20 p.m.
The couple’s family was distraught by the incident. Karlene Grose, the couple’s niece said, “Oh my god. It breaks my heart to see my uncle died. He was like a father to me.”
While the official cause of death hasn’t been determined, investigators believe the 91-year-old may have died of shock because he had no other injuries. Ethlin Thompson was treated for minor rope burns at a local hospital. Police said she was confused and unaware that her husband had died.
The Thompson’s reportedly lived in their brownstone for decades and were staples in the neighborhood. Married for 30 years, the couple turned their house into a home for the functionally disabled in the 1980s. According to her brother Garfied Bringle, Ethlin Thompson was known to give out money to people in need. “She’s a loving person. She gives everybody money. I don’t know who would do this.”
The police have one man in custody for questioning. Investigators are looking for four male suspects and inspecting local surveillance footage for clues in the case.