Mom claims link between assault, robbery cases

A robbery and an assault happened in Melrose, less than a half hour apart, and the mother of one of the victims is convinced the cases are linked. 
As News 12 reported on Monday, police are looking for three young men who they say were caught on camera robbing a teenager at gunpoint in the lobby of a Melrose Avenue apartment building back on March 9. 
The surveillance video of the robbery was too familiar for Ann-Marie, particularly the cane held by one of the suspects. She says her 12-year-old son was brutally attacked just feet away from their home on East 157th Street on that same day, and she thinks the same people are responsible. 
Ann-Marie showed News 12 surveillance video from outside her home moments before she says her son was assaulted. It shows her son walking and a suspect walking behind him holding what appears to be a cane.
Ann-Marie doesn't believe the similarities are a coincidence, but police say they can't confirm whether the two crimes are connected.