Original Blog Entry: Gutsy grandmother outsmarts robber

truesee — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 10:33:33 GMT

Gutsy grandmother escaped clutches of thug who stabbed her by outsmarting him, she says

Matthew Lysiak

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Wednesday, June 15th 2011, 4:00 AM

Michael Schwartz for News

Cops are still hunting for Larry Brown (below), suspect in stabbing of 82-year-old Mazie Garris.

DCPI

She was bound, gagged and bleeding from a stab wound to her head, but an 82-year-old granny still managed to escape from the clutches of a drug-addled robber.

I outsmarted him, Mazie Garris said, recounting in an exclusive interview Tuesday how she eluded the money-hunting bandit and fled her Harlem apartment to seek help.

The good-hearted senior, who is known to give food to the needy, opened her W. 139th St. home to Larry Brown, 57, on Monday morning - thinking he wanted a hot meal or clothes.

Brown - a nephew of Garris by marriage, according to family - whipped out a knife and stabbed her in the head, back and chest.

He then bound Garris and her husband, Boatman Garris, so he could ransack the place.

He tied me up on a chair, and he didn't think I could get out, the granny said from Harlem Hospital.

Well, when he went upstairs to get what he was looking for, I got myself free and ran outside.

Brown stole $1,000 from Garris and then fled. He's on the lam.

Garris was able to make it a few doors down from her brownstone before collapsing onto a stoop.

She said she was very thankful that a plumber who was doing work on the block, Juan Adames, 40, spotted her and called 911.

Adames recalled that all Garris kept saying was how she wanted someone to help her husband, who was still tied up inside their home.

The churchgoing woman said she feels blessed to have survived her nephew's cruelty.

I'm feeling okay, considering, she said. It's a miracle that I'm still here.

She was in stable condition Tuesday, police said. She said she needs more rest but is eager to return home.

Police described Brown as 5-feet-9 and 170 pounds. He has graying hair and a gray goatee. He was last seen dressed in black.

We ask anyone with information to call our tips hotline, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

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