A SERIES OF POPULAR RESTAURANTS HIT BY ‘BRAZEN’ GUNPOINT ROBBERIES [UPDATED]

Over the past month, robbers have targeted customers at a handful of restaurants in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Wielding a gun, the individuals demanded watches, wallets, and phones, and then took off on a scooter, according to police reports detailing the incidents. According to reporting as well as Reddit threads, the robberies have heightened concerns among some restaurant-goers about dining out.

No arrests have been made in connection to any of the robberies, according to the NYPD.

The most recent reported robbery occurred on Thursday, June 27, a police report confirms. At 11:20 p.m., a man and woman walking between Greenpoint venues were approached by two people on a moped in front of 699 Manhattan Avenue. One brandished a gun and demanded property from the duo, according to a police report. They handed over a watch and a purse; no one was injured and the robbers drove away on the moped.

Before that, a stickup occurred on Friday, June 21, at Birds of a Feather, a Sichuan restaurant in Williamsburg. Two unidentified men entered the restaurant around 9:35 p.m. and held up three customers by the front window at gunpoint, an owner Xian Zhang told Eater. They stole two phones, which were later recovered by police, and a watch, according to police reports. A user on Reddit posted about the incident later that evening.

The incident unfolded in less than a minute. “It was very brazen,” says Zhang. “I have heard of people being robbed in outdoor setups,” but never inside of a packed dining room on a Friday night. “We were fully seated,” he says. “Fortunately, nobody got hurt.”

Similar incidents unfolded this month in the West Village and Williamsburg. On Tuesday, June 18, two men on a moped stole a man’s $100,000 watch outside Carbone at peak dinner hours — around 8:45 p.m. They aimed a firearm at him and demanded the Patek Philippe watch on his wrist, the New York Post reported at the time. Eater has reached out to Major Food Group for more information.

The first of the trio of restaurant-adjacent robberies occurred on Friday, May 31, outside of Marlow and Sons in Williamsburg. Around 6:47 p.m., police reported an individual with a firearm approached two customers and demanded their watches. They fled the scene with another person on a two-wheeled vehicle. Restaurateur Andrew Tarlow chose not to comment about the incident.

Robberies are up five percent from June of last year, according to NYPD data. Incidents of overall crime tend to rise when it’s hot.

Beyond cooperating with law enforcement, restaurant owners don’t have many options at their disposal for handling crime. “We’re a small establishment,” Zhang says. “We probably will put more cameras around as a precaution. That’s as much as we can do at this point.”

Originally published on June 26, updated July 1 at 11:30 a.m.: This article was edited to include new information from a robbery on June 27.

2024-06-26T19:00:58Z dg43tfdfdgfd