A Brooklyn man was sentenced to 43 years in prison for his role in a 2018 crime spree in Queens, including the shooting of a Woodside drug store employee.
Elgin Brack, 24, was convicted following a two-week trial in March 2020 of multiple crimes in the armed robberies of four convenience stores across the borough during a two-hour period, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
His sentence was handed down Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court by U.S. District Judge Eric N. Vitaliano who also ordered Brack to pay $1,264,536.86 in restitution.
During the early morning hours of Nov. 26, 2018, Brack robbed at gunpoint a Duane Reade pharmacy located at 60-02 Roosevelt Ave. in Woodside, a 7-Eleven convenience store on Northern Boulevard in Woodside, a Rite Aid pharmacy on 30th Avenue in Astoria, and a Rite Aid pharmacy in in St. Albans, according to trial testimony.
At each location, Brack pretended to make a purchase and when the store employee opened the cash register drawer, he would brandish a .357 Magnum revolver, pointed it at the cashier and demanded money. During the first robbery at the Woodside Duane Reade, Brack shot the employee in the face and hand and then fled empty-handed.
After each robbery, Brack was picked up by a getaway car driven by his uncle and co-defendant Scott Brack.
The victim survived. NYPD detectives and special agents from the ATF-NYPD Joint Robbery Task Force discovered the getaway car in the Bronx the following morning and found evidence inside including the clothes the gunman wore as well as a backpack containing the .357
“Our NYPD officers work tirelessly to prevent and fight this kind of violent crime that threatens the fabric of life for everyone in our city,” NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said. “This sentence today strengthens our commitment to the public and highlights the joint work of our NYPD officers, law enforcement partners and prosecutors from the United States Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York in achieving a measure of justice in this case.”
Brack’s co-conspirator and uncle pleaded guilty in November 2019 and is awaiting sentencing.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime.
“With today’s sentence, the defendant is deservedly punished for brutally shooting an innocent store employee in the head and hand, and for committing violent armed robberies of convenience stores that jeopardized the safety of innocent people,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said. “This office will continue to vigorously prosecute defendants like Brack who engage in gun violence that threatens the safety of the community and endangers customers and hardworking store employees.”
