QUEENS — A knife-wielding serial robber who has ripped off nearly two dozen fast food stores in the city and on Long Island has struck again — this time in the Rockaways, DNAinfo New York has learned.
Sources said the butcher knife bandit stole several hundred dollars from a Subway shop at 233 Beach 20th St. around 9:39 p.m. Monday — less than 24 hours after police said he robbed another Subway store on Springfield Boulevard in Oakland Gardens on Sunday.
The thief, who hides his face under a hoodie and a mask or scarf, is armed with a large chef’s knife during the robberies, according to the NYPD. He enters an eatery, tells employees that he's robbing them and then demands the cash from the register. He has typically gotten away with $300 and $500 in each robbery — one of which was caught on surveillance camera.
“Luckily, he has not hurt anyone, yet,” a police official told “On the Inside.”
Police said they also believe the suspect is linked to at least 17 robberies in Long Island.
"He clearly travels in some kind of vehicle,” the law enforcement official said.
Police described the suspect as about 5 feet, 9 inches tall, with a stocky build.
The knife-wielding burglar has hit at least seven locations in Queens in the past month:
• He first struck in the city on May 11 at a Carvel at 103-21 Metropolitan Ave. in Forest Hills, police said. He threatened several employees with a knife before stealing $500 from a cash register.
• He then hit a Dunkin Donuts at 146-36 45 Ave. in Flushing on May 23 and stole $600 after forcing a man there to open two cash registers, police said.
• Two days later the suspect hit a Howard Beach Dunkin Donuts at 163-02 Cross Bay Blvd. where he got away with $776 in cash, according to the NYPD.
• The masked knife-wielding bandit then robbed a Subway Wednesday night at 205-12 Northern Blvd. in East Elmhurst, where he made off with $400, police said.
• The fifth robbery happened at a Subway at 64-29 108 St. in Forest Hills on June 3 at 8:55 p.m. Police said the suspect pulled a knife on a 20-year-old employee and then stole about $300 in cash.
• Two days later around 4:05 p.m., the man hit the Subway at 61-13 Springfield Blvd. and took about $500, police said.
• The incident on Beach 20th Street in Wavecrest was the seventh incident.
Anyone with information about the suspect is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential, police say.
