Police from the 109th Precinct in Flushing are still looking for more than a dozen young people who allegedly robbed a man at knifepoint on Roosevelt Avenue and then pulled a smash-and-grab minutes later, looting a store of tens of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise last month.
The mob of more than a dozen men and women surrounded a 38-year-old man in the vicinity of Roosevelt Avenue and Union Street in the early morning of Monday, April 22. Several of the suspects threatened the victim with knives and some of the individuals menaced him with sticks before they forcibly removed his wallet, which contained $700 in cash, police said, adding that the victim was not injured during the incident.
Minutes later, at 4:42 a.m., the mob showed up at a clothing boutique at 136-71 Roosevelt Avenue. One of the perpetrators broke in by smashing the front glass door with a concrete block, and the mob followed, snatching around $20,000 worth of merchandise, including jackets, fleece tops, and hooded sweatshirts, according to an NYPD spokeswoman.
The suspects ran out of the store to the Flushing-Main Street 7 train station, where surveillance cameras captured them as they passed through the turnstiles wearing the stolen merchandise.
The crooks remain at large more than a month later.
Anyone with information regarding this incident 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. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
Through May 19, the 109th Precinct has reported 137 robberies so far in 2024, one less than the 136 reported at the same point last year, a decrease of 0.7%, according to the most recent CompStat report. Burglaries are down significantly in the precinct with 149 reported so far this year, 87 fewer than the 236 reported at the same point in 2023, a decline of 36.9%, according to Compstat.
Hoping to build on that momentum, the NYPD’s Crime Prevention Division will host a “community conference” at the Queens Public Library Flushing branch at 41-14 Main St. from noon to 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 29.
