What began as a simple refund request ended like a scene out of a horror movie.
A man brandishing a hammer robbed a Queens spa on Thursday by assaulting its workers and smashing their piggy bank, police said.
The suspect walked into Tao Spa Bodywork, located at 135-20 40 Rd. in Flushing, on Thursday at about 11:35 p.m. and demanded a refund from an employee, police said. When she told the suspect he wouldn’t be getting one, he displayed the hammer and demanded money and then dragged her into the waiting area, where he punched the 55-year-old woman in the face, police said.
The suspect grabbed another female employee, who is 56 years old, by the throat and shoved her against the wall and threatened two others with the hammer, police said.
The workers gave the suspect $40, hoping he would leave, but instead, he smashed a piggy bank that was sitting on the counter, took coins and cash and fled the scene, going east on 40th Road, police said.
The women were treated by EMS inside the spa.
Police describe the suspect as 20 to 30 years old with black hair, standing 5-foot-6 and weighing about 160 pounds.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 888-57-PISTA
