UPPER EAST SIDE — A man tried to rob a neighborhood deli with a shotgun on Tuesday morning as the shop was filled with customers eating breakfast, according to Fernando Garcia, the deli's manager.
The suspect walked into Elim Deli Cafe, at 851 Lexington Ave., toting the gun in hand, approached the counter and demanded cash at about 8:30 a.m., according to NYPD and Garcia, who was working at the store during the incident.
The suspect told customers not to move and to keep their hands up, according to Garcia.
"It was like a movie," he said. "People were sitting there eating."
When the man tried to cock the gun, it malfunctioned and he panicked and fled the store without any cash, Garcia said.
"When he went out, everybody went behind him," he added, noting that two customers and three employees followed him out.
The suspect threw the defective gun into the garden at the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer at the corner of East 65th Street and ran toward Fifth Avenue, Garcia said.
"It's scary because he could come back," he said.
Police are still investigating the incident and ask that anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
