March 15, 2008: Vol. 31, No. 11

Two Park Slope women had run-ins with the same style-challenged gunmen in separate incidents on March 4, cops said.

The first story had a happy ending, when a 29-year-old woman refused to hand over her bag to the gunman, a teenager in a black jacket with a white bull’s-eye on the back, who then fled.

She told cops that she had been walking on Carroll Street between Third and Fourth avenues at around 10:30 pm when she noticed that the man was following her. When she turned to confront him, he pulled out a pistol and said, “Give me the bag.”

She did the Nancy Reagan, and the would-be perp fled. But minutes later, the same man jumped a woman on Butler Street.

Cops say the 35-year-old Butler Street resident had just gotten to the door of her building, also between Third and Fourth avenues, when the man in the fairly conspicuous jacket pounced. This time, he didn’t say much, preferring to let the black handgun do the talking.

But even after seeing the gun, the victim refused to hand over the bag, which contained her expensive cellphone and passport. The thief again let the gun do the work, pistol whipping the woman into releasing the bag.

©2008 The Brooklyn Paper