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Light Rain Knife-wielding robber resumes his spree
Owner describes incident at North Central Avenue store
Young Ahn was behind the counter at Select Beauty Supply, the North Central Avenue store she owns with her husband, on July 14 when a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt walked in. He seemed to be looking around, so she asked him if he needed help, but he didn’t answer. Then he pulled a mask up over his face.
The man moved calmly around the counter and walked toward the register. He was holding a large kitchen knife. He never said anything. Ahn walked away from him, moving out from behind the opposite end of the counter. She watched him open the register, remove the cash that was inside and walk out. She called to her son, Daniel, 24, who was in the back of the store. They called police.
“It was very stressful for me,” said Ahn, who has been in business at the location for about a year. Her husband, Steve, was not in the front of the store during the robbery. He said he couldn’t sleep that night.
“I have to operate the business in this style,” he said, pointing to the open front door.
Nassau County police reported that there was one customer in the store during the robbery, but Ahn said there were three, one of whom had a baby.
The suspect fled west on Fritchie Place, police said. He was described as a black man, about 6 feet 2 with a thin build and wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and a black mask.
The crime fit the pattern of six robberies of businesses around Valley Stream earlier this year, and two others earlier this month — one in Elmont on July 1 and one in Franklin Square on July 11. Before July 1, the last incident had occurred at Crescent Pharmacy, on Central Court, on April 7. Police believe the suspect in that robbery was the same man who robbed five other local businesses between Feb. 9 and March 20. The owner of Evan’s Corner, on Rockaway Avenue, suffered a lacerated hand during the robbery there on Feb. 24. No other injuries were reported.
Daniel Ahn said his family’s store had security cameras that recorded the robbery, but they failed to capture a clear shot of the robber’s face. He said his parents are considering upgrading their security camera system.
