Group Beats Up Two Subway Newsstand Employees for Money and Candy

Irina Groushevaia -

PARK SLOPE/DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — A pattern of robberies hit the Brooklyn subway in December.

A group of four suspects is targetting newsstands in Brooklyn subway stations for money and candy, cops said. Two newsstands were hit in the last few weeks.

The first incident happened on Monday, December 16, around 11:30 p.m., inside of the Atlantic Avenue subway station on the 2 train line. The employee of the newspaper stand in the subway station, a 49-year old man, was approached by four young men who came behind the counter.

One of the suspects displayed a knife and demanded property. The individuals then began to punch the victim about the head and body and removed an unknown amount of cash from the register before fleeing on foot in an unknown direction. The victim suffered pain and bruising. EMS responded but the victim refused medical attention at the scene.

The second incident happened Sunday, December 22, around 7 p.m., inside of the Borough Hall subway station, on the 2 train line as well.

The employee of the newspaper stand in the subway station, a 53-year-old man, by the same group of young men, cops said, who came behind the counter. In this incident, no weapon was noted. The individuals then began to punch the victim about the head and body and removed an unknown amount of cash and candy from behind the counter before fleeing on foot to parts unknown. The victim suffered pain and bruising. EMS responded but the victim refused medical attention at the scene.

The suspects are described as men, 20-30 years of age. They were all last seen wearing all dark clothing.

At the time of publication, DCPI had no new information on the investigation.

Photos of the individuals were taken right before the second incident.

Photo of suspect. Courtesy of NYPD.
Photo of suspect. Courtesy of NYPD.
Photo of suspect. Courtesy of NYPD.

Anyone with information in regard to the identity of these individuals is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or on Twitter @NYPDTips.