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Armed Men Wearing Clown Masks Hold Up Queens Pharmacy, Make Off With Prescription Meds

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- This story begins with two clowns walking into a pharmacy -- robbery suspects, actually wearing clown masks --- and ends with a quick getaway, and some key evidence left behind.

The surveillance video looks like something straight out of a movie. Police are seen chasing after suspects in an armed robbery at a Walgreens pharmacy in South Ozone Park, Queens. Investigators and employees can be seen going in and out of the Rockaway Boulevard store, which has a sign on the door that says "closed until further notice."

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"Hearing things like this is like, it makes you sick," neighbor Mona Charles told CBS2's Jenna DeAngelis.

prescription opioids
Prescription opioids (Photo: CBS2)

CBS2's DeAngelis has learned two men entered the Walgreens armed and wearing clown masks at about 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday. They allegedly forced the employees to one area, ransacked the pharmacy and got away with two bags full of prescription medication.

Police later found two bags containing an assortment of drugs on Hendrix Street in Brooklyn and believe the crooks got away with more, leaving behind a very worried community.

"Robbery. I don't know what's going on in this world today. It's too much, too much, too much," Charles said.

People who work in the area told DeAngelis they're concerned because this is the second time this pharmacy has been held up in two months.

"I would hope that the police would consider increasing their presence in the area," one man who didn't want his name revealed told CBS2. "It obviously is a big safety issue for all of the people involved."

Police have not made arrests in either case and have not indicated whether they are connected. The NYPD, however, has noted a pattern from the Walgreens robbery in March to another at a CVS in Queens Village, in addition to two armed men getting away with prescription drugs.

"The people need to be caught. I mean, if anybody saw anything I do hope they will come forward and say something," the man said.

Neighbors said they hope cops do something, and soon.

Police told DeAngelis nobody was hurt during Tuesday's robbery, adding the Department places dummy pill bottles in pharmacies with GPS inside to track robberies. It's unclear if the technology was used in this case.

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