Moment brazen armed robber holds up New York City jewelry store at gunpoint before firing off a round and getting away with $100,000 in jewels in Target shopping bag
Shocking surveillance footage captured the moment an armed thief casually walked into a New York City jewelry store before firing a shot and stealing $875 in cash and $100,000 in merchandise.
New York City police are searching for the suspect, who committed the armed stickup on Tuesday afternoon at the Prince Street Jewelers in Downtown Brooklyn on on Tuesday.
Footage posted by the department on Thursday shows the brazen robber entering the store in a grey sweatshirt and face mask with a pizza delivery backpack and Target bag.
He begins making demands before firing a round into a wall above the cash register and placing the Target bag on the counter. Police said that the thief filled his bags and fled the scene without harming anyone.
The brazen jewelry store robbery happened on the same day New York Mayor Bill de Blasio touted that the city saw one of its safest Augusts on record, despite a bloody Labor Day weekend where one person was shot dead and eight others were injured.
De Blasio released last month's citywide crime statistics at a press conference on Tuesday, where he said crime in August 2021 dropped 5.4 per cent compared to the same time last year.
Crime in the city is also at one of its lowest levels since 1995, according to CompStat with 6,141 violent incidents compared to 1,979 in the year to date. Those incidents include, murder, rape, assault, burglary, larceny and grand theft auto.
Police are searching for an armed thief who stole $875 in cash and $100,000 in merchandise from Prince Street Jewelers in Downtown Brooklyn on Tuesday
Footage posted by the department on Thursday shows him entering the store in a grey sweatshirt and face mask with a pizza delivery backpack and Target bag
He begins making demands before firing a round into a wall above the cash register and placing the Target bag on the counter
But despite overall crime rates being down, New York City continues to see a surge in violent crimes in some areas, with murders up a whopping 60 per cent in the Bronx alone this year, compared to 2020. Hate crimes citywide have also soared a shocking 97.8 per cent compared to last year.
And De Blasio's announcement came after a violent Labor Day Weekend where nine people were shot. They included a 21-year-old immigrant cab driver who was caught in the crossfire of a shootout in Harlem in the early hours of Sunday morning and died three days later.
NYPD crime statistics through September 5, showing a slight decrease in overall crimes. Year to date murders are down 2.2 per cent despite string of shootings over Labor Day weekend in the Bronx
NYPD data shows the change in crime rates from a 28-day period in August 2021 ending on Sunday, September 5, compared to the same time last year
Kudlup Singh was struck by a 15-year-old male suspect as he drove his black Toyota Camry past a nearby silver sedan when a gun battle erupted between the car's occupants and the people on the street.
Singh suffered horrific brain damage as a result and the other passengers in Singh's vehicle - a mother and 12-year-old son - were not harmed during the incident.
The Uber driver is one of the 1,305 shooting victims so far this year - a 1.7 per cent increase from the 1,283 victims in 2020 - even though the overall number of shootings dropped 6.6 per cent to 57.
In the Bronx, in the 28-day period that ended after the bloody weekend on Sunday, September 5, there were a total of 24 murders - compared to 21 over the same period in 2020 - a 60 per cent increase.
Police said a 30-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy were shot in the buttocks and lower back respectively, at 1877 Bathgate Avenue in the Crotona neighborhood at 2.48am Sunday.
EMS transported the teen to St Barnabas Hospital while the other man managed to take himself to Lincoln Hospital.
Then at around 3.30am, police responded to a shooting opposite a gas station located at 2280 Tillotson Avenue in the Eastchester neighborhood of the Bronx.
A stray bullet from a Harlem shootout killed Uber driver Kuldip Singh, 21, who was driving down the street with a mother and her 12-year-old son in the backseat
Police are seeking this man in connection with Singh's fatal shooting. The 15 year-old boy who is believed to have fired the deadly shot was apprehended, and is being treated in hospital
Cops discovered a 28-year-old man 'unconscious and unresponsive' with a gunshot wound while a second man, 35, also sustained a gunshot wound but was conscious and alert.
Both men were rushed to Jacobi Hospital where the 28-year-old was pronounced dead. The 35-year-old was listed in stable condition.
Elsewhere in the Bronx police said four people were shot and wounded as a group of people left La Roose Catering Hall on White Plains Road around 3.35am.
The group got into an argument with an unknown person, who opened fire on them, shooting a 24-year-old man, a 27-year-old woman, a 36-year-old man and a 47-year-old man all in their legs.
The last shooting was reported around 4.15am Sunday in the Kingsbridge Heights neighborhood where police say a 22-year-old woman was shot by a driver she mistook for her taxi.
The man in the black car attempted to grab the woman's bag and when she resisted, the driver drew a gun and opened fire, hitting her in her left shoulder in front of 197th Street and Reservoir Avenue.
Overall, crime may be down but felony assaults saw a 5.5 per cent increase and rape spiked by 4.5 per cent. The number of robberies decreased by 1.9 per cent.
The FBI recorded a soaring number of hate crimes across the United States, including in the Big Apple, which they attributed to an increased amount of assaults targeting Asian and Black victims.
Since the beginning of 2021, the NYPD reported 376 hate crimes, compared to 189 last year - a shocking 97.8 per cent increase.
The suspects above allegedly attacked two men with a screwdriver and a glass bottle, hurled a homophobic slur at one of them, and stole cash and an iPhone before fleeing the scene at a store at 1559 Broadway in Bushwick, Brooklyn at 2.10am Saturday
The men attacked the victims with a glass bottle and a screwdriver before stealing an iPhone and cash and running away on foot
Most recently two men were brutally attacked with a glass bottle and a screwdriver while being called homophobic slurs at a Brooklyn bodega early Saturday morning.
The two male victims, aged 36 and 28, were trying to buy food at a store at 1559 Broadway in Bushwick, Brooklyn at 2.10am, according to the NYPD.
They were approached by two unknown men who engaged them in a verbal dispute and made 'anti-gay statements,' according to police.
The men attacked the victims with a glass bottle and a screwdriver before stealing an iPhone and cash and running away on foot.
Another disturbing crime in Brooklyn occurred on August 24, when a knife-wielding man stabbed a 25-year-old in broad daylight on a sidewalk in Brooklyn. Surveillance footage shows the victim holding a pizza box and chatting with another individual when the suspect, who appeared to be passing with a group of friends, casually walks over and begins stabbing him repeatedly.
Police say the latest incident occurred at approximately 5.22pm Saturday in Brooklyn's Brownsville neighborhood.
The attacker, seen wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt, stabbed the victim in his face and abdomen before fleeing the scene.
New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea has called for reform amid the crime surge, arguing that the 'soft on criminals experiment' has been a disaster.
'This city is built on public safety,' Commissioner Shea said during a Monday evening interview with Spectrum News.
'We're probably about two years into this soft-on-criminals 'experiment' if you will, 'let's empty out the jails, and show me a New Yorker that at this point and time thinks this experiment has worked. It's been a disaster.'
Shea said he hopes New York's new governor, Kathy Hochul, will make necessary changes to increase safety across the city.
'Common sense is what we need. Reforms are good, but let's do reforms that are calibrated in such a way with the input of law enforcement,' he argued.
'It's time to fix these laws and get back to where we all need to be.'
