Police are looking for the group of four suspects behind a string of recent robberies throughout the city.
The first incident attributed to the group came on Oct. 22, when they entered a grocery store at 1269 1st Ave. in Lenox Hill, before stealing a tobacco grinder at around midnight. The crew then tried to force open the store’s cash register, but a 25-year-old employee intervened and chased them out of the store — holding the door shut to prevent them from re-entering.
Two days later, the quartet struck again on Oct. 24 at another store on the Upper West Side. According to police, they entered the location at 321 W. 100 St. at around 1 a.m. and placed an order for sandwiches — but once they got their food, they left the store without paying. When an employee tried to stop them from exiting, one of the suspects displayed a knife.
Their crime spree continued on Nov. 8, when the four suspects looted over $100 in merchandise from a store at 2425 2nd Ave. in Harlem. When confronted by an employee at around 2 a.m, one of the suspects simulated a firearm under his jacket, causing the worker to back off.
A week later, the same group held up a smoke shop at 403 E. 70th St. in Lenox Hill on Nov. 15. The suspects approached the counter, seemingly to make a purchase at around 7:30 p.m, but jumped across the counter and physically detained a 23-year-old male employee while they stole over $1,200 worth of goods from the location.
On Nov. 24, the group broke the glass of a display case inside a Brooklyn deli at 375 Graham Ave, before stealing approximately $1,160 worth of merchandise and running off at around 4:35 p.m.
Their crime spree returned to Manhattan on Nov. 28, when the group assaulted a 25-year-old male employee of a smoke shop at 483 Columbus Ave. on the Upper West Side. After they were done punching and kicking the worker, the troop stole $300 cash from the register, and grabbed an unknown amount of store merchandise. They then fled the location northbound on Columbus Avenue at around 4:25 p.m.
The squad of bandits headed south for their next stickup on Nov. 30, when they stole $1,500 in store merchandise from a Hudson Yards smoke shop at 495 9th Ave, while brutally assaulting a 24-year-old employee.
Two days later, they struck again at a NoHo smoke shop at 221 E. 10th St. According to police, the suspects entered the store at around 4:25 p.m, before restraining a 21-year-old female employee while they looted around $500 worth of contraband. The men then fled westbound on 3rd Avenue undetected.
The most crime attributed to the quartet came on Dec. 11, when they entered a Chelsea smoke shop at 269 W. 23rd St. while wielding metal pipes as weapons. The suspects then detained a 28-year-old, while they stole around $300 worth of merchandise. The men then fled the location on foot heading eastbound on W. 23rd Street.
Police are now asking for the public’s help in tracking down the suspects. Cops described the suspects as four men in their early 20s, with dark skin and slim builds.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website, on Twitter @NYPDTips.
