Robbers posing as cops hold up NYC deli, remain at large: Police
Four individuals are at large after posing as police officers and robbing a deli in New York City, officials said.
On Sunday at approximately 8:14 a.m., police responded to a 911 call of a commercial burglary at a deli in Brooklyn, the NYPD said in a statement provided to ABC News.
When officers arrived on the scene, they were informed "four unidentified individuals had entered a commercial establishment, displayed a firearm and forced a 48-year-old male, a 68-year-old male and a 40-year-old male to the ground," police said.
The robbery, which was captured on surveillance footage, shows the suspects wearing NYPD jackets and zip-tying the victims.
The individuals fled the scene with a bag of "unknown property" in a dark-colored van in an unknown direction, police said. Fernando Mateo, the spokesperson for the United Bodegas of America, told the media on Tuesday the suspects got away with a bag full of lottery tickets.
Police said there have been no arrests and the investigation remains ongoing. The individuals were described as males with dark complexions, last seen wearing dark-colored clothing, officials said.
Kaz Daughtry, the deputy mayor of New York City Public Safety, told New York ABC station WABC he briefed Mayor Eric Adams on the status of the investigation Tuesday morning.
"This is extremely concerning," Daughtry said. "We are happy that we are in a good place and bringing these individuals to justice very soon."
There were no reported injuries as a result of the incident, police said.
During a press conference on Tuesday, the United Bodegas of America urged New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to provide $5 million to increase security efforts at bodegas and place a panic button at each establishment
"If we had what we had been looking for and asking for the last two or three years, we could have prevented this and we could have had these guys arrested. Enough is enough," Mateo said on Tuesday.
Mateo said bodega owners "cannot and will not" allow for these incidents to continue.
"This week we have had numerous incidents, but this one put the frosting on the cake," Mateo said.
The organization has previously urged the NYPD and local officials for this increased security. Earlier this month, Mateo said the panic buttons would "give the bodega owner a sense of security."
"These bodegas are community centers. They are places where people come not only to buy food, they come to socialize, to talk. We need the panic button to become law," Mateo said on April 18.
The United Bodegas of America is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to arrests in the robbery.
