Search Continues For Suspects In Robbery Of Queens Deli Worker, 9-Year-Old Girl
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The search continues for two suspects who police say robbed a Queens deli worker and his little girl.
Clear surveillance video released by police shows the two men walk into the Maspeth deli and grocery near 56th Avenue and 56th Road in Maspeth just before 8:30 p.m. back on Saturday, Jan. 28.
As they approach the cash register, one of the suspects, wearing an orange knit cap with his face partially covered, is seen pulling out a handgun and pointing it at the 27-year-old clerk behind the counter as the clerk's 9-year-old daughter was sitting on his lap.
Investigators said the man with the gun ordered both the onto the floor while he swiped money from the cash register.
"They told him to sit down with his hands up and his daughter was just terrified, devastated," Najat Almatare, the 27-year-old clerk's sister, told CBS2's Janelle Burrell. "All he wanted was money. That's all he wanted."
Before the pair took off, police said the gunman also managed to take a cigar box with more cash inside, the brazen duo getting away with about $3,000.
Almatare says her brother and her niece are too scared to speak publicly after the terrifying ordeal.
"She gets nightmares at night, she's frightened to use the bathroom alone," she said about her niece. "She's terrified. It's devastating. "
"She was afraid," deli owner Taher Almatare, the little girl's grandfather and clerk's father, said. "She love her daddy."
For the Almatares and their longtime customer Inez Feliciano, the surveillance video is difficult to watch but they're simply relieved no one was hurt.
"We feel very safe out here, it is a great neighborhood here," said Feliciano. "It's shocking."
"How could you do that with a little girl? I mean, it's heartless, it's heartless," neighbor Dillen Darcheville added.
The clerk was back to work Tuesday and said his daughter has also been back to the store since the scary incident. They hope someone will recognize the suspects.
"Only thing I can say is what if this was your child? What if this was your family? Why would you do something like that and to see my niece, I wish no one would go through what we go through," said Najat Almatare.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-tips (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-pista (74782), visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or text tips to 274637 (crimes) then enter tip577.
