Three teens were arrested after holding up a woman at gunpoint — or at least what she thought was gunpoint — on 13th Street on April 27.
Cops say that the woman was near her house, which is between Sixth and Seventh avenues, at just before midnight, when the three teens approached and one pulled a gun and said, “This is a real gun. Give me all your money.”
Though he was lying — the gun was plastic — he was able to hold the 30-year-old victim at bay while his accomplices rifled her pockets and bag, taking a laptop computer, a cellphone, an iPod and a digital camera.
Within minutes, however, the “gunman” was spotted by police, who saw him throw the fake firearm away as he fled.
“I got no place to go. That’s why I’m out here doing this,” he allegedly told the cops.
In short order, cops nabbed his accomplices, one of whom had the iPod still in his pocket, police said. All three arrested men — age 16, 17 and 19 — are from Canarsie.
Cell hell
Thieves took advantage of a man who was talking on his cellphone on April 28. Shortly after noon, several perps ran up to the man as he chatted on Ninth Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues and “forcibly” threw him to the ground, cops said.
They took the 24-year-old man’s phone, his iPod and his fancy eyeglasses, and then fled.
Double trouble
A thief stole two laptop computers from a Seventh Avenue apartment on April 28.
Cops say the thief broke into the apartment, which is between 13th and 14th streets, sometime after 9 am and took not only two computers, but a Nikon camera and a tote bag in which to carry his ill-gotten booty.
Ear ring
Two men bashed a Flatbush Avenue jewelry store clerk and grabbed two pairs of diamond earrings from a showcase on April 30.
The men entered the store, which is between Park and Sterling places, at around 4 pm and asked to see the merchandise. Then, without warning, they both pummeled the clerk, 31, and ran out with the earrings, which were valued at $1,200.
Six is enough
Six teenagers violently mugged a woman on a Manhattan-bound F train on April 29, stealing hundreds of dollars in electronics while the train was between the 15th Street and Seventh Avenue stations.
Cops say the six 16-year-olds entered the train at 15th Street and surrounded their 42-year-old victim. One of the boys grabbed her iPod while two others punched her arm until she surrendered her pocketbook.
Three of the teens got off the train, and the victim held open the doors in hopes of finding help. But a fourth teen threatened her, and she got off the train, allowing some of the perps to flee on the subway. The other teens vanished up the station stairs.
In all, the Queens woman lost her iPod, $250 and sunglasses.
Compuburg
A thief broke into a storage room at a Flatbush Avenue computer store on April 29 and sneaked out through an adjoining store with close to $6,500 in equipment.
Cops believe the thief entered the rear of the neighboring store, which is between Pacific Street and Fifth Avenue, sometime between 9 am and 7:30 pm, entered the bathroom and then broke into the computer store.
Once inside, he helped himself to 11 laptops and one plasma-screen TV, then fled through a cellar door.
It is unclear how he could have gotten away with so many items during the day.
Drum down
A thief swiped a teenager’s cellphone right out of her hand as she strolled through Prospect Park’s “Drummer’s Circle” on April 30.
The musicians, of course, were nowhere to be found on a weekday, so the thief was able to escape with the $200 phone.
“If you follow me, bad things will happen to you,” he told his 14-year-old victim.
Jean fight
A shoplifter didn’t have an easy time when he tried to steal jeans from a Garfield Place store on May 2, thanks to a clerk who put up a fight to save the merchandise.
Cops say the thief entered the store, near Seventh Avenue, at 5 pm and grabbed four pairs of Hudson jeans. The 21-year-old clerk spotted the thief and pounced on him, but the perp broke free and ran out with the jeans.
