Police from five precincts across central and western Queens are looking for four suspects who have been robbing gas stations and convenience stores as recently as last Wednesday.
At around 4 p.m. inside a Shell gas station located at 71-08 Northern Blvd., in the 115th Precinct, two men entered and one pulled out a knife as the other said, “step back or he’ll kill you.” The two men forcibly removed a cash register containing $900 before jumping in a purple Honda Odyssey, police said.
About 25 minutes later, the suspects crossed into the 114th Precinct when they entered a Mobil station at 44-02 Astoria Blvd. One of them pulled out a knife and said, “Hands up.” They then forcibly removed the cash register holding $5,000 in cash and $500 worth of store merchandise before taking off in a motor vehicle in an unknown direction, according to the NYPD.
The suspects pulled off two heists on Friday, June 17, when two of them entered a 7-11 located at 168-01 Union Tpke. in the 107th Precinct just before 2 p.m. One of the suspects said, “We have weapons,” and proceeded to jump over the counter and forcibly remove a cash register containing $700 in cash before taking off on foot, police said.
Just over an hour later, all four of the suspects entered a Shell gas station at 90-05 Myrtle Ave. in the 104th Precinct and one of them shouted, “Give me the money,” while pretending to have a handgun under his sweatshirt. The suspects forcibly removed a cash register that contained $5,000 in cash before taking off on two motorcycles heading northbound on Woodhaven Boulevard.
On Tuesday, June 14, just before 11 p.m., two of the suspects entered the Sunny Deli at 84-77 Parsons Blvd. in the 107th Precinct and said, “We have weapons,” and then forcibly removed a cash register containing $1,200 in cash before leaving the scene in a blue SUV, last seen heading northbound on Parsons Boulevard.
Police say the first incident of the robbery pattern occurred on Tuesday, May 31, just before 4 a.m. when two of the suspects entered the Gourmet Deli at 91-06 Van Wyck Expy. in the 102nd Precinct. This time they displayed handguns and one of them said in Spanish, “Don’t touch anything.” They removed a cash register holding $1,500 in cash before leaving the convenience store and driving off in a dark-colored vehicle heading eastbound on the Van Wyck, police said.
The NYPD released surveillance video of two of the suspects during one of the robberies. The first suspect has a medium complexion and a thin build. He was wearing a green hooded Nike sweatshirt, black pants, black boots and a yellow ski mask, police said. The second suspect has a medium complexion and a thin build and was last seen wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with the word “money” on the front, gray sweatpants and black sneakers.
Anyone with information in regard to the identity of the suspects is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at nypdcrimestoppers.com, or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
