UPPER EAST SIDE — Police are hunting a man who robbed a Second Avenue bodega of $2,000 after threatening to kill a worker, according to the NYPD.
On July 12 at roughly 4:30 p.m., a male in his 30s walked into Tramway News at 1147 Second Ave. at 60th Street and told the 42-year-old bodega worker not to move or he would kill him.
He did not show any kind of weapon, police said.
The suspect walked behind the counter and removed $2,000 cash, took an iPhone worth $300 and fled the scene.
Tramway News owner Nizar Roi told DNAinfo New York on Monday that the store was empty of customers when the suspect came in. After the thief took money from the till, he found a nearby closet with more money and smartphones inside, he said.
"There was no way for my employee to call 911," Roi said.
"When another customer walked in he used their phone to call. He was shaken for about 10 to 15 minutes afterward."
"I hope this doesn't happen again.Things are bad out there and everybody is scared."
Other notable crimes in this week’s blotter from the 19th Precinct on the Upper East Side include:
► A 60-year-old woman from Brooklyn was walking at the corner of Lexington Avenue and East 68th Street to a Redeemer Presbyterian Church service around 10:30 a.m. on July 10 at Hunter College when a man approached her and asked "Hey, remember me?" and told her to give him her purse. They struggled, but he was unable to grab the purse and fled. The man was roughly 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds.
► A mother and her son were enjoying a day at the John Jay swimming pool at 78th Street and the FDR Drive on July 10, but returned to find their locker had been broken into between 5 and 6:30 p.m. The suspect took a Samsung 4, worth $350, an Apple iPhone 6, worth $700, and their clothing. Police are asking swimmers not to use luggage locks to secure their lockers but bigger, sturdier ones. Pool security and NYPD presence has increased since, a police source told DNAinfo New York on Friday.
► A 36-year-old New Jersey resident was scammed out of two Justin Bieber concert tickets on July 9. At roughly 8:50 a.m., the man met up with the suspect, whom he met on Craigslist, at the Dunkin' Donuts at 1703 Third Ave. at 95th Street and bought the tickets for $280. Later that night, he showed up at the Prudential Center in Newark for Bieber's "Purpose" concert and was told the tickets were counterfeit. Police said the suspect is a 26-year-old man.
► Another Craigslist ticket scam that happened at at the same Dunkin' Donuts was reported the next day on July 10. Two 18-year-old men from New Jersey bought tickets for the Copa America soccer game at Metlife Stadium on June 22 at 10:45 a.m. at the Dunkin' Donuts but didn't find out the tickets were fake until the day of the event on July 10. They spent $700 on the fake tickets.
Police arrested Darryl Rojas, 23, of the Bronx on July 12 at 2 p.m. and charged him with petit larceny and fraudulent accosting. They said he was not the same suspect from the Justin Bieber scam.
