BY JACOB KAYE
The NYPD is looking for several individuals involved in a citywide pattern of ATM robberies.
On Monday, Jan. 6, around 1 a.m., two men approached two employees of Hotel BMP, located at 139 33rd St. in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The men threatened to shoot the employees if they didn’t get on the floor, according to the police. The men then assaulted the 66-year-old woman and 64-year-old man working at the hotel, removed the ATM from the hotel’s lobby with a hand trolley and fled in an unknown direction, cops say.
The next day, on Tuesday, Jan. 7, around 11:30 p.m., two men entered an Astoria deli located at 24-01 31st St., while a third remained outside as a lookout, according to the NYPD.
One of the men went up to the counter and pretended to be a customer while the other attempted to remove the ATM with a hand truck, cops say. The 66-year-old man and 30-year-old man, who were both employees of the deli, tried to prevent the theft but were both cut with a sharp object by the fake customer, according to police.
The two men ran out of the store without the ATM. The robbers, including the lookout, fled in two different cars, described as a light colored sedan and a dark colored sedan.
Both of the victims suffered cuts to their hands, necks and torsos. They were treated and released from NYC Health and Hospitals/Queens.
The day after that, on Wednesday, Jan. 8, around 10:20, two men picked up an ATM outside of Villa Mia Pizza, located at 526 3rd Ave. in Murray Hill, Manhattan, according to the NYPD. They placed the ATM inside of a gray van and fled south on 3rd Avenue.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls are strictly confidential.
