Susp cuffed in stab-rob at drugstore

A knife-wielding Brooklyn man was arrested on Wednesday and charged with repeatedly stabbing a drugstore employee while attempting to rob a Canarsie pharmacy last year, federal prosecutors said.

Rayvaughn Williams, 24, walked into Canarsie Plaza Pharmacy at around 12:45 p.m. on Aug. 12, 2019, and told an employee behind the counter he was there to pick up a prescription, according to the criminal complaint.

When the worker could not find the prescription on record, Williams took a knife out of a dark plastic bag he was toting and ordered the employee to fork over some cold hard cash, the complaint continued.

After the terrified worker then tried — but failed — to open the cash register, Williams leaped over the counter and began plunging the knife into the worker.

The employee survived the harrowing attack, which was captured on several store security cameras, the complaint said.

Williams was expected to appear on video conference before Brooklyn Federal Magistrate Judge Roanne Mann on Wednesday afternoon.

“As alleged, Williams brutally stabbed a victim who had offered no resistance to the attempted robbery of the pharmacy,” said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue. “Such wanton disregard for life will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

Williams boarded a city bus Aug. 12 at around noon near the corner of Glenwood Road and Nostrand Ave. wearing a white T-shirt, bright blue shorts and a black Nike ball cap — the same clothes he wore in the pharmacy — and was carrying a dark plastic bag, the complaint said, citing surveillance footage from the bus.

The bus stopped at Flatlands Ave. near E. 89th St. just before 12:30 p.m., less than two blocks from the pharmacy, the complaint said.

Williams faced federal charges in 2016 for carrying a firearm while attempting to commit a robbery in November 2015, according to a separate criminal complaint. He was sentenced to three years’ supervised release and ordered to complete a residential substance abuse program, court documents show.