Crime

Robber sought

Knife used to rob 4 local businesses

Posted

Police are searching for a single suspect in four armed robberies that took place around Valley Stream between Feb. 9 and March 11.

The first incident occurred on Feb. 9 in North Woodmere, where the suspect reportedly robbed a Shell Gas Station on Rosedale Road using a large kitchen knife. He then struck three times in Valley Stream. He robbed Evan’s Corner Candy Store on Rockaway Avenue on Feb. 24, where a struggle resulted in minor lacerations to a store clerk’s hand, and North Central Liquors on N. Central Avenue on March 10, and Dragon Garden on Rockaway Avenue on March 11.

The suspect is described as a black male, between 5-foot-10 and 6 feet tall with a thin build. He was last seen wearing a black jacket over a hooded sweatshirt, a ski mask or scarf covering his face, white-soled sneakers, and gloves. He was seen fleeing in a White Hyundai with yellow New York license plates.

In each of the robberies, police said the suspect brandished the knife and demanded the cash from the register. When store clerks opened the registers, he removed the drawers and fled. Detective Sgt. Bill Butler said that no individuals have been indentified as possible suspects yet, though investigators were hoping to catch the thief thanks to his modus operandi.

“He takes the whole drawer,” Butler said. “He takes part of the register with him, which is certainly very unusual,” he said. “We’re focusing right now on trying to find where he’s leaving those drawers. We doubt that he’s keeping them since they wouldn’t really do him any good…If he is leaving those somewhere and we can find them, there should be some evidence or DNA on there that could be used to find out more about him.”