Police from the 100th Precinct in Rockaway Beach are looking for a gunman who allegedly robbed two commercial establishments last month.
The first incident allegedly occurred just a few blocks west of the precinct during the early morning of Wednesday, Feb. 7. The suspect entered a store located at 97-06 Rockaway Beach Blvd. just a few minutes before 1 a.m. and pulled out a black handgun while threatening the 55-year-old man behind the counter. The perpetrator forcibly removed approximately $400 in cash from the register and fled the location in an unknown direction, police said. The store employee was not injured.
Investigators believe the same man targeted another shop just around the corner on the night of Sunday, Feb. 18. The suspect allegedly entered 224 Beach 98th St. just before 11 p.m., pointed a handgun at a 41-year-old man behind the counter, and forcibly removed around $200 in cash from the register as well as the victim’s cell phone, police said.
The suspect fled the store and was last seen running northbound on Beach 98th Street toward Beach Channel Drive and Jamaica Bay. The store worker was not injured.
The NYPD released a surveillance image of the suspect on Tuesday. He was wearing a black hooded winter jacket, a black face covering, black gloves and black pants. A reward of up to $3,500 is being offered for information that leads to his arrest.
Anyone with information in regard to these incidents 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 at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips.
Through March 10, the 100th Precinct has reported 8 robberies so far in 2024, the same number of robberies reported at the same point last year, according to the latest CompStat report.
