Police from the 107th Precinct are looking for a quartet of robbers who worked with the precision of a pit crew in ripping off three different commercial businesses in an astonishing seven minutes on the night of Friday, Sept. 1, according to the NYPD.
The speedy crew struck first in Hillcrest just two blocks away from the campus of St. John’s University when the three men entered the Double J Deli, located at 168-02 Union Tpke., at 10:22 p.m. One of the men placed an object to the back of a 60-year-old store employee and demanded that he open the cash register, police said. His two accomplices raced behind the counter and snatched approximately $1,000 in cash while a fourth stood watch at the doorway. The store worker was not injured and the suspects fled westbound on Union Turnpike.
The robbers showed up at the Express Deli located at 79-02 Parsons Blvd., 10 blocks away from the first robbery, just four minutes later. Three of the men men went inside and one of them “simulated a firearm” at the 27-year-old store employee, while two of the robbers went behind the counter and removed around $800 in cash, police said. The fourth man acted as a lookout. The worker was not injured and the crew moved further west to Kew Gardens Hills where they hit a Gulf gas station eight blocks away, just three minutes later.
Three of the men went into the Bolla Market at the service station, located at 141-50 Union Tpke., and one of them pretended to have a firearm and demanded cash from the 40-year-old man that was working there at 10:29 p.m., police said. Two of the suspects removed approximately $3,000 from the register, while the fourth remained outside as a lookout. The store employee was not injured. The four men fled the location in an unknown direction.
The NYPD released surveillance video of three of the men entering one of the delis, while the fourth remained outside. All four wore black hoodies, black sweatpants and face coverings.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS.
