THE BRONX — A crew of four heavily armed gunmen is suspected of nearly a dozen stickups of Bronx gas stations and convenience stores and a total of 20 robberies in the metropolitan area in recent months, DNAinfo New York has learned.
The spree began last December at the Garcia Family Food Court on Barnes Avenue in The Bronx and has continued not only throughout the north Bronx, but into Westchester County, including in Ardsley and Yonkers, sources say.
In every robbery, two to four gunmen — believed to be part of the same gang and always wearing masks — burst into a business, demand all the money from the safe or register, and pistol whip any worker or customer who hesitates to give up their cash or other valuables
“These guys are a very real, very dangerous crew,” a source said. “We’ve been lucky so far that no one’s been killed, or seriously hurt.”
For example, during the Garcia Family Court robbery, three men wearing masks and brandishing black handguns invaded the store around 9:45 p.m. They jumped over the counter, put a gun to a worker’s head and screamed, “Where’s the money, where’s the money?”
They then emptied the safe and ordered their victims onto the floor, where they took their wallets before fleeing, sources say.
Among the other heists, according to sources, are:
- A Dec. 30, 2014, robbery at Liquor Land at 930 E. 233 St., where two gunmen wearing white masks forced workers and customers into a back stock room. The thieves yanked a safe out of a counter, pistol whipped a worker into opening the lock and then stole $3,000 in cash.
- On Jan. 14, 2015, two men invaded the Energy & Food store at 1255 East Gun Hill Road, where they hurdled the counter and stole money from registers.
- On Jan. 20, two gunmen — one wearing a white mask, the other an orange and red mask — burst into store at 1450 East Gun Hill Road. They forced a customer to the floor before they stole $900 in lottery receipts, an iPhone and $250 from the register.
- On Jan. 26, two gunmen stole $400 from a cash register inside the Mobil Mart at 688 East Gun Hill Road.
- On Feb. 8, a worker was cleaning the Sunoco Gas Station at 4090 Boston Road at 3:40 a.m. when several gunmen jumped through the glass partition shouting: “Give me the money or I’ll shoot you.” The thugs then bashed the worker in the head with a gun, opened the safe and made off with money and an iPhone.
- On Feb. 20, two masked gunmen wearing gloves entered the Sunoco at 410 City Island Ave. at 2:25 a.m., ordered the lone employee onto the floor and stole $800 and the victims’ cellphone.
Police say there are at least three other Bronx heists tied to this pattern of holdups in the city, the details of which were not immediately available.
Authorities ask anyone with information about possible suspects or the incidents to contact the NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential, police say.