A callous thug robbed a 10-year-old boy of $8 as the child and his younger sister walked down a Brooklyn street after visiting a Brooklyn pizzeria, police said Saturday.
Victim Alex Medina and his sister, 7, were walking side by side along Sterling Place near Utica Ave. around 11 a.m. Friday. in Crown Heights when the robber, who was believed to be homeless, rushed up and immediately snatched the money. from the child’s hand, police said.
The thief had confronted Medina moments earlier and asked for some money, the child recalled.
“He asked me if I could give him $5, but I ignored him and walked away,” Alex told the Daily News on Saturday. “The second time I went to the pizzeria, he came, grabbed my hand, took the money and just ran away.”
A neighbor of Alex and his mother, Ana Garcia, captured the robbery on a surveillance camera.
“It looks like two children came into the street, a boy and a girl. Someone behind them is shouting at them,” the man, who did not want to be named, told The News. “The man comes up and puts his hand in their bag and it looks like he’s grabbing something.
“You sometimes get packages stolen, but you don’t see anyone robbing others here,” said the neighbor.
Alex had already gone to Crown Fried Chicken and Pizza around the corner from his house earlier in the day to pick up an order, but he had forgotten to pick up one item.
He had just returned to the store to get the extra food and was returning home with his sister in tow when the thief jumped them.
“He grabbed my right hand and took the money from my left hand. I had about $8 dollars,” the child recalled. “It was my sister who was with me, but there weren’t many adults to help. I got scared. I didn’t know what he was going to do.”
The thief ran away towards Utica Ave. and Lincoln Place and disappeared, police said. He remained at large on Saturday.
“I’d never seen him before,” Alex said.
Neither child was injured, police said.
Alex called the police and reported the robbery. A short time later, he and his father drove through the neighborhood and found the thief nearby.
“(My father) went up to him and said, ‘Did you steal money from my kids?’” Alex recalled. “My father took a picture of him and then the man ran off.”
Police have found surveillance images of the thief, who was wearing a white T-shirt, black pants and a backpack at the time of the robbery. He was also holding a pair of sneakers.
Police released the images on Saturday in the hope that someone can identify the thief.
Neighbors were stunned by the cold-blooded crime.
“Who does that with children? That’s really bad,” asked a resident of the area, who did not want to be named. “Sometimes you hear of people getting their packages stolen, but (robbing children), that’s a bad thing to do.”
Anyone with information on the thief’s whereabouts is urged to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All conversations are treated confidentially.
