A carjacking at a borough toy store ended in a nail-biting hostage drama in Canarsie Tuesday — just hours before the borough celebrated National Night Out Against Crime.
As this paper was going to press, police had apprehended two of the three teenage suspects wanted in the theft.
The thieves, police said, may have been responsible for not just one car theft, but two — both at borough Toys ‘R’ Us locations, officials said.
NYPD sources said that the stick-up crew, whose members were not named as this paper went to press, pulled a gun on a shopper inside the expansive parking lot of the Toys ‘R’ Us on Flatbush Avenue just east of the Marine Parkway Bridge at 2 p.m.
The car’s owner was about to step into her bright red BMW convertible when the trio forced the woman to give up her keys.
Police said that about 20 minutes later, the stolen convertible was sighted rolling around the streets of Canarsie.
“One of our patrols saw the car and followed it,” said a police source.
The cops gave chase until the suspects abandoned the BMW at the corner of East 89th Street and Avenue J.
The thieves scrambled off, leading police on a foot pursuit through several back yards.
After leaping over gates and vaulting over fences, two of the suspects ran into a home on East 99th Street near Avenue J, surprising several people inside.
Responding officers, including members of the NYPD Emergency Services Unit, converged on the home and ordered the suspects to surrender.
Two of the three suspects surrendered after a brief standoff with police.
A third suspect escaped, possibly before the thieves decided to make a stand on East 99th Street, officials said.
Police charged the two suspects with robbery, unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a weapon.
No injuries were reported, although witnesses said that the suspects’ shirts were “bloody” as they were brought out of the home in handcuffs.
The third suspect was still at large as this paper went to press.
The drama in Canarsie ended just two hours before residents gathered in front of the 69th Precinct on Farragut Road to once again commit themselves to the ongoing war against crime during their annual National Night Out Against Crime celebration.
This year marked the 25th anniversary of the “take back the night” event.
