Elderly man in Bronx attacked, robbed in apartment building

NORWOOD, Bronx (WABC) -- Police are looking for a man they said attacked and assaulted an elderly man in the Bronx Thursday.

The incident happened around 7:15 p.m. at an apartment building near Dekalb Avenue and East 213th Street.

Authorities say the 79-year-old victim, Abraham Lopez, walked into the lobby when another man approached him from behind and put him in a headlock.

The suspect allegedly threw the victim to the ground, punched him in the face, then took his wallet containing $220 and a cell phone.

The individual then fled the location.

The viciousness of the attack became even more vivid from the sight of Lopez's face Friday, with his head partly bandaged and his eye black and badly swollen.

His daughter Celia did not want to go on camera but translated for the battered father, who does not speak English.

"The guy just begin to hit him, without words..he don't say nothing, just said shut up," she said.

Lopez has lived in the building for less than a year. He had just walked into the building when the suspect began to beat him.

"He bang his head and push with the floor, with his head," said Celia.

Lopez was taken to Jacobi Hospital in stable condition with a facial injury.

The suspect is described as a black male, about 6-foot-3, with a mustache. He was last seen wearing a black ski jacket, a dark colored hooded sweatshirt, a dark colored baseball cap, red pants, a camouflage backpack, and black and white sneakers.

"He never saw nobody like him, that he is not human, he's an animal," said Celia.

We asked Celia how she felt today, sitting next to her injured dad who is still rattled by the senseless violence.

"I'm angry and sad," she said.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).