Police Believe Bronx Armored Car Robbery Linked To Another Holdup
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An armored car robbery in the Bronx could be tied to another crime in the neighborhood that occurred earlier this month, police said.
The incident occurred after the armored truck picked up money from EG Money Service on Westchester Avenue in Soundview on Tuesday morning.
An armed suspect dressed in a suit and tie held up a carrier with an armored car service as soon as he walked out of the money order outlet with bags full of cash, CBS2's Ilana Gold reported. The suspect put a gun to his neck and stole the bags containing $78,000.
Surveillance video shows the suspect racing across the street toward Evergreen Avenue while shooting at the victim, who fired back, Gold reported.
The bullets pierced through the window of EG Money Service and struck the walls of the business, narrowly missing workers.
"They got down and tried to be safe," manager Ronald Espinal said.
The bullets went flying across the block, also hitting several parked cars.
"I don't know where they were flying. I know I just ducked and tried to take cover," one witness said. "I didn't know if it was going to hit me or not."
One bullet struck a vehicle at a car wash across the street. Lillian DeSann said her husband, Enrique, had been standing right next to the vehicle and just missed getting shot.
"A little bit higher and he probably wouldn't be here," DeSann said. "When he heard the first shot, then he looked and he turned and he saw that they were shooting from the Brinks car."
He and others nearby scrambled to find refuge from the bullets and ran into a nearby laundromat.
Police said they found 14 shell casings on the street after the robbery. The suspect fired 10 shots; four bullets were from the guard, CBS2 reported.
No one was hurt during the incident.
The suspect jumped into a vehicle seconds after the crime, and the NYPD is now looking for a red four-door Honda Accord with tinted windows that was last seen fleeing down Colgate Avenue.
One witness told CBS2 the suspect had an accomplice in the car.
"She said that she saw the guy in the car tell the other guy to keep shooting," the witness said through an interpreter.
Police said the crime is linked to another armed robbery at a Chase bank just three blocks away on Dec. 4.
"This is part of a pattern, we believe right now," NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said.
In the earlier incident, an armored car guard had just left the building when a suspect put him in a chokehold and held him at gunpoint.
Two other perpetrators then grabbed the victim's bag with nearly $300,000 in coins and ran off.
Police late Wednesday were looking through surveillance video from area businesses to get a better idea of who the suspect might be. Anyone with information is urged to come forward.
