‘Crack’ in the case
Punks hit 2 businesses in one day
A crew of bandits hit two Brooklyn businesses on the same day, punching a woman in one of the heists before she chased them out of her restaurant with a meat cleaver, videos released by police show.
The crooks raided the stores Wednesday beginning at 5:17 p.m., when they descended upon Atlantic Best Deli on Atlantic Ave. near Marconi Place in Ocean Hill.
Video shows one of the bad guys, the lower half of his face covered by a bandanna, storm up and pull a gun on a worker as a customer stands by the counter. That’s when his partner, who is sporting dreadlocks, jumps the counter and empties the register. The men ran up Marconi Place toward Herkimer St. with cash and the worker’s cell phone.
About 7:40 p.m., those men and two accomplices robbed New Century Chinese Food on Flatlands Ave. near E. 92nd St. in Canarsie, some 3 miles from the first robbery. In video recorded on the restaurant’s surveillance camera, the suspects walk behind the counter and shove a woman employee back as the man with the dreadlocks tries to open the register.
The woman tries to interfere with the crook at the register, even though another suspect is holding her. That’s when the man with the dreadlocks punches her in the face, the video shows. The stunned woman, however, quickly turns the tables on the thieves. She grabs a meat cleaver and chases the suspects out of the restaurant, except for the gunman, who slowly walks out.
The crooks never opened the cash register, officials said, and the woman was not seriously injured.
Cops described the foursome as black, in their late teens or early 20s. The man with the gun was last seen wearing a black T-shirt and blue jeans, and the one with the dreadlocks was wearing a white T-shirt, gray shorts and sandals.
The third suspect was wearing a black do-rag, white T-shirt and black pants. while the last man also covered his face with a bandanna and was sporting a gray T-shirt and black shorts.
Anyone with info should call Crime Stoppers, (800) 577TIPS.