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Light Rain Halloween scare: masked crooks
Halloween season might be nothing but fun and treats for many children, but it's also a time each year when many law-enforcement officials see an increase in crimes committed by masked criminals.
Case-in-point: a crime that occurred in Elmont on Sept. 30. According to Nassau County 5th Precinct detectives, three men — one wearing a Halloween mask — attempted to rob a 24-year-old pizza deliveryman who was making a delivery on Stone Street around 11:20 p.m., when the men grabbed his arms and put them behind his back.
Police said that the deliveryman was able to break free and sound his car horn, causing two of the suspects to flee on foot south on Stone Street, and the other to flee north on Stone Street.
The deliveryman described one of the attempted robbers as a thin black man, who was wearing a black T-shirt and blue jeans. Another suspect was described as a black man, with no further description, and the third man was described as a dark-skinned man who was wearing dark clothing and a Halloween mask.
No weapons were displayed, and no injuries were reported.
Halloween-masked crimes are not unique to Elmont. Police in Denver, Colo. were recently looking for a man who was believed to have robbed several motels at gunpoint from Aug. 28 to Sept. 6, and was seen wearing a Halloween mask on more than one occasion. According to police in Oklahoma City, a man wearing a Halloween-style hockey mask on Sept. 26 attempted to abduct a student from Southgate-Rippetoe Elementary School in Moore, Okla. Oklahoma City police went on to say that although masked crimes are a year-round threat, they pick up around Halloween.
According to the 5th Precinct, last Friday's incident was the fifth crime targeting deliverymen in the precinct since June 1 — it's the third in Elmont in the past four months, including the robbery of $300 from a 48-year-old Chinese food deliveryman on Sept. 28, on Butler Avenue in Elmont. Deliverymen-related crimes have also occurred in Lakeview and Valley Stream since June 1.
Nassau County 5th Precinct detectives request anyone with information regarding this crime to contact Nassau County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244- TIPS. All callers will remain anonymous.
