CBS 2 Exclusive: Bed-Stuy Shop Owner Determined To Keep His Business Open After Violent Robbery
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A Brooklyn store owner who fought back against two violent robbers is still fighting, determined to keep his business.
The brazen robbers burst into the Stephen King's popular clothing store in broad daylight and had him looking down the barrel of a gun. But they didn't expect him to fight back.
King was wheeled out of his clothing shop and back to the hospital Friday evening. A few hours earlier, he was strong enough talk about getting shot during a botched robbery.
King sat down exclusively with CBS 2's Matt Kozar to share his story about what happened.
"There are fragments in my leg that they said would get worse if they did surgery," King said.
He hobbled on a crutch as he showed Kozar his shop on Ralph Avenue called Bed-Stuy Fly, where he designs and sells the clothes. The store now has a bullet hole in the window.
King said during the noontime robbery, two masked men walked into the shop and pulled out guns and said, "You know what this is!" A scuffle ensued, and King was shot in the leg and he said the two men took off through the front door.
After fleeing the store without cash or merchandise, police sources say the men ran across the street and shot a 48-year-old in the foot. The bystander was sitting on a park bench.
They also shot at a second story apartment window before running away.
"I'm real upset, but I don't dwell on that. I've got to keep this business going. We're doing so well, we're getting so much love and support from Brooklyn," King said.
King said he poured so much of himself into the business, which opened five years ago in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, better known for gang violence than fashion.
But resident Joe Kendall, who moved back to Bed-Stuy after living in Queens, says the neighborhood is changing.
"The amount of crime has decreased 100 times," he said. "There's just a whole change as far as rent goes and housing. It's just completely different."
Despite getting knocked down, King says he won't let the thieves disrupt his dream of designing and selling clothes.
"We want to stay here and keep doing good business in this community. We're not going to stop," King said.
Police said they are actively searching for the armed suspects who are believed to be in their late teens or early 20s.
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