N.Y.C. Woman, 71, Fights Off 4 Attackers Who Tried to Rob Her While Traveling to New Year’s Day Church Service

An elderly New York City woman fought off four potential robbers on New Year’s Day.

Linda Rosa, a retired MTA worker from East New York in Brooklyn, was on her way to a church service on Wednesday, Jan. 1, when she was attacked by four teenage girls, according to The New York Post. 

The NYPD confirmed the report to PEOPLE, stating that “the individuals attempted to remove the victim’s bag and struck her about the body” at about 6 p.m. local time. “After being unsuccessful in their attempts, the individuals then fled the subway heading towards unknown whereabouts,” the department continued in a statement.

Rosa, 71, told the Post that she had exited a subway train at the Hoyt Street stop in Brooklyn and had just walked through a turnstile to leave the station when one of the four girls attempted to snatch her purse.

“And then I [thought to myself], ‘Oh, no, this is not going to happen today,’ ” she recalled to the outlet.

Rosa went on to detail that one of the young women punched her in the face, causing her glasses to fly to the floor, at which point a second teen grabbed a pouch containing Rosa’s ID and medical records.

“I was still wrestling with the first person,” Rosa told the outlet. “Then I was trying to kick her in between her legs, but my leg wouldn’t stretch far enough.”

“I fell, and then she [the first assailant] stomped on me,” she continued, adding, “I got an impression in me that she was going to stomp me again, but she was going to aim towards my head. So I got up right away, and with that, I grabbed her braids and twirled them around my right hand, and then I pulled her down.”

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Rosa said it was at this point that the teen who had grabbed her pouch tossed it to the floor and also came towards her. 

“So out of nowhere, I grabbed her hair and twisted it around my left hand,” Rosa said. “So I had them both facedown … [like] rams when they’re getting ready to fight.”

Rosa then said that she began yelling for assistance while she continued to hold the two girls by their hair. She said she eventually did let go, at which point all four teens ran away.

Rosa said she continued on to the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church, where congregation members tended to her wounds and called the police. She was then taken to the Brooklyn Hospital Center for treatment of “minor injuries,” per the NYPD’s statement to PEOPLE.

The NYPD has since released video footage of the four attackers, which shows them passing through subway turnstiles moments before the attack. Police have since asked for the public’s help in tracking down the suspects. 

For her part, Rosa said she does not harbor any ill will toward her attackers.

“I forgive them. They do not know what they do,” she told the Post. “They don’t know what they did. It’s just teenagers acting foolish.”