April 30, 2018 By Tara Law
Police are trying to catch two men who allegedly robbed a Ditmars cellphone store on April 18.
The pair walked into JW Verizon Wireless Premium Retailer at 22-39 31st St. at around 12:50 p.m., police say. The men began to examine phones on display and to talk to store employees.
One of the men then pulled a $1,000 display phone out of its case and hurried out of the store as the other man held the door open.
A store employee, 25, tried to stop the pair, but one of the suspects punched him in the face. The pair took off on foot south on 31st Street towards 23rd Avenue.
(Photo: DCPI)
The store employee had a black eye, but refused medical attention at the scene.
The first suspect is described as black in his early 20s. He is approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall and 150 pounds. He was last seen wearing a green jacket and blue jeans.
The second suspect is also black and in his early 20s. He is approximately 5 feet 9 inches tall and 155 pounds. He was last seen wearing all dark clothing.
Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
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9 Comments
So sad. I hope the injured party fully recovers. Astorians must stand together. If someone looks like they are up to no good say something .
I would have pwned these knobs. Toughen up Astoria!
we need too put a end too all of these low in come shelter where you can walk in and sleep, since westway was turn into a shelter ditmars and astoria became very bad, these are low life ppl
The gentlemen who work at that store are the nicest guys. I am so glad that no one was injured. I hope they are on and they catch those two criminals.
So I work at this location. I have a few corrections to this story and an opinion about it. 1) we are called Nycom Wireless not JW wireless. JW was the company that was here years ago before us. 2) Both guys where about 15 to 20 years old. 3) This is an ongoing crime spree. They have robbed a few places locally not just us. They robbed a T-mobile on 30th st before us and They attempted to rob another store on 30th st. 4) Yes no one was hurt badly, but They did assault one of our employees who didn’t really try to stop them but was in their way when they try to flee. So to down play it as just some petty theft is ignorant. These are criminals who would rob any person young or old with no regard. If you think they won’t rob you coming out of the bank, coming off the train or break in to your car is also ignorant 5) They knew they were on security cam/video. And didn’t care. That shows they have no care if they are caught. Which makes them dangerous.
Thank you so much for all your input. Some people around here like to walk around with their guards down. But if people took the time to actually talk to shop keepers/neighbors and understand that not all crimes are picked up be the media they would know better. I think Southern Astoria has seen an improvement when it comes to safety and quality of life issues where as the Ditmars area has seen a decline. Be safe.
150 pounds kids these days. I would’ve body slammed them Hulk Hogan style brother!!
Why does it take so long to get this out to the community?
Wow the middle of the day! Glad the employee did not lose his life for a cell phone.