An armed mugger — packing not one but two deadly weapons — has been prowling the Village’s eerily empty streets, targeting two twentysomething men.
Police said that on Tues., March 31, around 10:45 a.m., a 24-year-old male was walking to work near 52 E. Eighth St. when he was approached by a young stranger who asked to borrow his cell phone. The victim refused, at which point the robber pulled out both a firearm and a knife, threatening to harm him.
The thief fled westbound on Eighth St. with the victim’s bag containing a laptop, wallet and cell phone.
The following day around 8:15 p.m., a 26-year-old man was walking outside the park across from 32 Washington Square West when the same mugger accosted him brandishing a knife and a silver firearm, police said.
The crook then forced the victim to make withdrawals from multiple ATMs in the immediate area and also in the Union Square area, before fleeing with $440, bank cards and a cell phone.
Police released surveillance-camera photos of the suspect taken at the Union Square subway station after the second incident.
Anyone with information should call the New York Police Department’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Tips can also be submitted on the Crime Stoppers Web site at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or on Twitter at @NYPDTips.
All tips are strictly confidential.
quite a well-dressed, dorky looking thief…..