Queens smoke shop hit by robber with Ghostface mask and assault rifle — VIDEO
A crook wearing a Ghostface mask and toting an assault rifle charged into a Queens smoke shop with two other gunmen and stole $3,000 from frightened workers and customers, police said Thursday.
Startling surveillance video released by the NYPD shows the trio all jumping out of the backseat of a Mazda3 black sedan and running inside Briana’s World Inc. on 109th Ave. near the Van Wyck Expressway in South Ozone Park at 4:55 p.m. Wednesday,
Surveillance video shows gunman in Ghostface mask and two others rob smoke shop in Queens.
The gunman in the Ghostface mask, popularized by the hit horror flick “Scream,” entered first with his rifle drawn. Two accomplices, both wearing dark ski masks and carrying handguns, quickly followed.
The man with the Ghostface mask pointed his rifle at the seven workers and customers inside while his accomplices took their valuables and ransacked the register, the video shows. The victims can be seen in the video with their hands up, with one customer down on his knees.
Surveillance video shows gunman in Ghostface mask and two others rob smoke shop in Queens.
The crooks ran off with cellphones stolen from two customers and two workers and $3,000 snatched from the cash register. A getaway driver picked them up in the same car they arrived in.
Nobody was hurt during the heist. No arrests have been made.
The NYPD released this photo of the getaway car used by a gunman in Ghostface mask and two others who held up a smoke shop in Queens.
A worker at a nearby bodega said cops stopped in looking for surveillance video of the heist.
“It was a robbery,” said the worker, who did not want to be named. “The guys got out of a car. They were parked right there and they went in. The whole thing was weird. I don’t know where you get an assault rifle from. It was like a movie.”
Despite the robbery, the smoke shop was open for business on Thursday, operating from behind a pulled-down metal gate.
A worker inside the smoke shop shooed away reporters.
“This is really bad for our business,” he said about attention. “It was wild. We’re still trying to process it.”
A resident who lives nearby said the smoke shop is bad for the neighborhood.
“Those guys are real bad news,” the neighbor said. “They are a real pain in the ass for the neighborhood. You get lines of four cars double parked, shutting everything down. Now this.”
Cops are asking the public’s help identifying the crooks and tracking them down.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
