In the sack
Two gun-toting robbers held up a cellphone shop on Jan. 20 — in broad daylight and within sight of a police station.
Workers at the store, which is located on the corner of Park Place and Flatbush Avenue, less than a block from the 78th Precinct stationhouse, told cops that one of the perps walked in around 11:25 am and promptly distracted the salespeople by asking about the phones.
That’s when the second perp entered, brandishing a handgun and demanding that workers start shoveling phones into a black garbage bag.
Meanwhile, the first perp pulled out a gun and told the clerk, “Get the money out the drawer.”
The gunmen then herded the staff at gunpoint into a back room and fled with $650 and $4,800 worth of phones.
Underground man
A thug ripped an iPhone out of a subway rider’s hands on the 2 train on Jan. 19.
The victim told cops that she was riding the Manhattan-bound train at 3 pm and holding her $500 phone. As the train pulled into the Bergen Street station, the perp bounded toward her, snatched the phone from her grasp, and fled out of the station, which is at Flatbush Avenue.
Blind witnesses
Someone broke into a President Street apartment on Jan. 19 and got away with more than $1,500 in electronics.
Police said the burglar entered the apartment, which is between Fourth and Fifth avenues, sometime between noon and 6 pm. He even used paper napkins to cover the peepholes of all the apartments with views of the break-in.
Lockpick locked up
A robber entered a Carroll Street apartment on Jan. 22, stole some wire cutters, but was arrested before he could use them.
The owner of the apartment, which is between Seventh and Eighth avenues, told cops that she was walking home at 3:23 pm when she saw the robber coming out of her building. She called cops, who immediately cornered the crook.
They also recovered the wire cutters, which could have helped the hapless burglar in his first night in lockup.
Prying hands
A crowbar-wielding crook pried his way into a Sackett Street apartment on Jan. 23 and made off with $900 worth of electronics.
The owner told cops that he was gone from 7 am to 6 pm, and when he returned to his apartment, between Fourth and Fifth avenues, he found considerable damage to his front door. Inside, he found his laptop and digital camera were gone, as well as $50 in coins.
Shots or not?
A gun-toting crook tried to rob a man on the front steps of his 11th Street apartment on Jan. 24, but he came away empty-handed.
The victim told cops that he was coming home at 3:15 am when he was approached from behind by a stranger who climbed the front steps to the victim’s building, between Third and Fourth avenues.
The stranger flashed his piece, and said, “Give me your money.”
When the victim refused to comply, there was a scuffle. But the jittery crook ran off towards Third Avenue. Witnesses told the Brooklyn Paper that they heard shots fired, but police did not confirm that report.
— Evan Gardner
