NYPD On Hunt For Brazen Park Slope Package Thieves
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police are searching for a group of package thieves. They were caught on camera tearing through boxes in a Brooklyn building.
The three suspects were so brazen they were even seen cutting open the packages and taking things from them while they were inside the lobby, CBS2's Marc Liverman reported Tuesday.
Surveillance video shows one of the suspects rummaging through a few packages. One of the boxes is already open. In one hand it looks like he's holding a knife.
"I think it's pretty common, unfortunately, that pretty much anywhere you live something could happen like that," building resident Matt Dollinger said.
The man grabbed a package and took off, but the situation got even more alarming. More surveillance video shows a building employee intervening as two of the suspects walked down the hall. That's when one of them aggressively pushed right into the employee before running out.
"He tried and locked the door," building employee Frank Diaz said of his co-worker. "They must have seen him and they pushed him out of the way and they ran out."
"I think they were just terrified to be caught," Dollinger added. "I mean, they opened one of our boxes. They didn't steal our kitty litter. It was 25 pounds. I understand why they didn't take that."
Diaz said after the thieves escaped his co-worker noticed something they left behind.
"They found a box cutter on top of the boxes," Diaz said.
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Police said the package pirates cut through multiple packages. In the end, they got away with various clothing items worth close to $500.
But how they got inside in the first place, police haven't said. Diaz said he thinks the building was just an easy target.
"The door must have been open, so they got tempted. They looked in and they seen boxes," Diaz said.
Now, he said he just wants the suspects caught.
"Let them pay. Let them do their time," Diaz said.
He said his friend wasn't hurt when he was pushed out of the way.
Residents said they are now taking extra steps to make sure it doesn't happen again.
"Management actually just asked us to keep track of who's coming in and out of the building," resident Theresa Ocol said.