A hostage situation at a check-cashing store in Brooklyn by a lone gunman ended peacefully Saturday night after a tense few hours after the gunman surrendered.
Police said the gunman entered the check cashing and currency exchange store around 7:45 p.m., initially as a customer, and then announced a robbery, displaying a gun.
Two workers and a customer were inside at the time, but an employee managed to escape and call 911, prompting police from the 83 Precinct and other units to the adjacent two-story store on Irving Ave. 300-302, along a local shopping street, sped. strip.
Police realized he was surrounded and said the robber had barricaded the front door with several chairs.
At that point, NYPD hostage negotiators began a dialogue with him that lasted more than two hours.
At two points, the robber pointed his gun at an emergency services officer, who held his fire, and at one of the hostages inside. Police said the bumbling bandit, who was not immediately identified, eventually agreed to surrender. He climbed out of a second-floor rear window and descended a ladder to surrender to waiting officers with weapons drawn.
According to police, his weapon turned out to be a fake pistol.
The two hostages were taken to an area hospital for examination as a precaution, police said.
