‘ NOT AGAIN! ’
Punk terrifies shop owner & little girl as he robs Bx. bodega twice in 9 days
A gun-toting bandit delivered a dose of armed deja vu to a terrified Bronx store owner — and her 5-year-old daughter.
Smoke Shop Plus owner Ahlam Alfarah was robbed twice in nine days by the same hard-hearted thief, who made off with $700 in a robbery this past Sunday after grappling with the overmatched victim as her frightened little girl scrambled for cover.
The same armed crook fled with $115 in the earlier theft, and the 5-year-old child was also behind the store counter for that hold-up, according to cops and the victim.
“I said to myself, ‘Not again,’” recounted the hardworking Alfarah in a Thursday interview with the Daily News. “You’re really going to do this again? There is a woman and a child in here ... (My daughter) said to me, ‘What am I going to do if something happens to you, Mommy?”
The second robbery, at about 7:30 p.m. Sunday, was captured in a shocking video released by police.
The earlier hold-up came shortly after midnight on Nov. 21 when the gunman — wearing a red, white and blue surgical mask adorned with a Puerto Rican flag — appeared as Alfarah, 51, was closing the store on Featherbed Lane near Jesup Ave. in Morris Heights.
The armed man, accompanied by a second suspect, pointed the weapon at Alfarah as she surrendered the cash, cops said.
The suspect returned eight days later with an accomplice for the second robbery, according to police. A teary Alfarah recalled scuffling with one of the bandits — and recognizing him from the first hold-up when his mask came off.
“I was screaming and no one could hear me (the first time),” she said, explaining why she resisted Sunday. “I’m fighting with him to try to go ask for help, because it’s still early. Somebody has to do something. How can they do such a thing and nothing happens?”
The second bandit ran past the worker’s trembling daughter and ripped out the cash register drawer, snatching about $700. Surveillance video captured the little girl cowering on the ground before fleeing from the bandits.
A video of the first encounter showed the robber pointing his gun at the unseen woman, who handed over the cash. Cops said he dropped the money, and the video showed the suspect jumping over the counter to grab the bills just before a second man comes inside to meet him.
The mom said her little girl was a few feet away in a small children’s bed behind the counter. The protective mother said she tried to fight the assailant off with a plastic lawn chair during the first robbery.
While robberies were down by nearly 21% citywide, there was a slight increase in her Bronx neighborhood in 2020 — from 328 last year to 332 through Nov. 29.
Alfarah immigrated to New York from her native Yemen 15 years ago, taking over as owner of the small business six years ago. She routinely works 14-hour shifts to make ends meet, and was home along at the time of the robberies while her husband was visiting with his family in Yemen.
With the ongoing pandemic, she hasn’t paid the rent on her store since March. The distraught victim lives just a few blocks away from the business, but now wants out of the neighborhood.
“I want to change businesses,” she said. “I want to go somewhere more quiet.”
The suspects in both attacks wore hooded sweatshirts. After the second robbery, the two men fled in a black SUV, leaving their shaken victim behind with a damaged front door and cash register.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
Alfarah, who sends money from the business back home to her family, offered a simple reply when asked what she would say to her assailants.
“I would say ‘Why?’ ” said the still-emotional emotional mother four days after the second robbery. “First of all, they have a whole future ahead of them. They are young. They can work. In my age, I work everyday. Why not them?”