By Tom Tracy
Two males with a serious video game addiction are being sought for committing a daring hold-up at an Park Slope Game Stop store last week, officials said. Police believe that the people responsible for the February 12 heist were the same individuals who held up the store in the same fashion roughly a month before. Workers told police that they were preparing to close the store, located at 153 7th Avenue, for the night at 7:45 p.m. when two black males entered. In a matter of seconds, the thieves had guns in their hands and were ushering the three workers into a back room, where they tied them up with duct tape. The gunmen then went about pulling video games down from store shelves, into a set of black garbage bags that they had apparently brought with them. Officials said that the suspects robbed the victims of the cash and jewelry, removed $10,000 in store receipts, 450 X-Box games and 500 PlayStation games. A digital video recorder that was part of the store’s security system was also removed, officials said. No injuries were reported, officials said. Police said that last Monday’s heist was hauntingly similar to a gunpoint robbery that took place at the store roughly four weeks earlier – so much so that they believe the two crimes are connected. In that heist, which took place just before closing on January 6, two black males entered the store, claiming that they wanted to purchase an X-Box 360. An employee went to a back room to retrieve one. When he returned to the showroom, the thieves knocked him to the ground, stuck a gun in his face and demanded his property, officials said. Police said that the suspects robbed the store of $1,600 in receipts, an X-Box 360 and a Sony PSP before binding the employee and locking him in a back bathroom. The worker, police said, was not injured. By Wednesday, the suspects wanted in both heists were still at large. Cops are asking anyone with information to call the 78th Precinct at (718) 636-6411. All calls will be kept confidential.
