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Armed iPhone Thief Threatens to Kill Restaurant Worker Who Chased Him

By Sybile Penhirin | February 23, 2015 1:14pm | Updated on February 23, 2015 1:34pm
 A man stole an Europan Bakery Cafe worker iPhone 6 and threatened him with a gun when the employee asked him to give it back.
A man stole an Europan Bakery Cafe worker iPhone 6 and threatened him with a gun when the employee asked him to give it back.
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Twitter/@THEMAJESTIRIUM1

UPPER WEST SIDE A restaurant worker who ran after a customer who stole his iPhone 6 had a gun pulled on him and his life threatened if he didn’t go back inside the eatery, the staffer said.

Nahum Martinez, 34, was working the night shift at the Europan Bakery Cafe on Broadway near West 78th Street when a man came in about 2 a.m. Monday and asked about the price of pizza slices, he and police said. 

“He just walked in, there was nobody here, it was the middle of the night,” recounted Martinez, who is originally from Mexico but lives in East Elmhurst.

“He asked, ‘Is the grill still open?’ I said, 'Yes.' He asked about the pizza. You know, he look[ed] normal.”

The thief eventually ordered a $4.90 Hawaiian slice and, as Martinez was putting it into the oven, he saw the suspect in the store's mirror grab the worker's black iPhone 6 that he had left near the register, he said. The man then walked out of the store, Martinez said.

“He was not running, just walking. I followed him. I said, ‘Can you give me my phone back?’ He put his hands in his pockets and pulled out a gun. He said, 'Go back inside or I kill you,'” the worker said.

“I was scared. I said nothing, I go back inside. I don’t want to be killed over an iPhone,” Martinez added, noting the gadget was given to him by a friend about a month ago and that he had not activated it yet and was using it to listen to music.

Martinez briefly stood at the store's doorstep, but the thief pointed his gun at him again and asked him to go all the way inside the store, he said.

The worker called the police while the suspect fled westbound on 78th street, the NYPD said.

The suspect was described by police as in his 20s, and Martinez said he was wearing a dark green jacket at the time of the robbery.