By Joy Bergmann
A man armed with a gun robbed the Duane Reade at 2025 Broadway (between 69th and 70th) around 4:36 a.m. Thursday morning, according to NYPD. No one was injured in the incident, officers at the scene told WSR. Around $300 was stolen, according to Deputy Inspector Timothy Malin of the 20th Precinct.
Initial reports described the suspect as a white male, wearing a black and grey sweatshirt, black pants and a white mask, possibly resembling a surgical mask. Duane Reade security footage of the suspect is quite similar to photos of another armed robbery suspect at a Rite Aid one block away from this location that occurred in the wee hours of February 20.
“It appears to be the same guy from February,” Malin told WSR.
We will update this post if new information becomes available.
The employees at this location are always so nice. This DR location is terrifying, as the downstairs area is often populated with scary characters lingering around. I try to avoid this location whenever possible.
Having said that, if you miss the way NYC used to be, this is the place for you!
I used to go to this location regularly, and while I agree it’s always been dirty, the employees are so much friendlier and helpful than the store on 72nd. The last time I was in there in February approx 11:00 am, and one of the cashiers was called to assist in the makeup department and a male and female created/used that distraction to flee the store with bags full of merchandise. I was on line with at least 6 other customers and the male stood at the door and threatened everyone not to try anything, and then they were gone. The cashier who was still behind the counter just looked at us and then went on to call the next customer…business as usual. : (
I have lived directly across the street for 10 years and literally have never seen any shady characters downstairs or upstairs and I’m in the store almost every day at varying times
I’m at this DR several times a week and not once have I seen any scary characters lingering around on the lower floor. What on earth are you talking about?
This DR is uncomfortable to shop in that’s for sure. The store also seems dirty. I avoid it.
Thank God this did not escalate. I recently read about a pharmacy that had an armed guard and several people got shot in the ‘battle.’ What’s the precinct doing that the same guy can go from store to store at the same early hour committing armed robberies?!
Stores should not be open 24 hours.
No purpose is served and there is always the possibility of crime – anywhere.
Actually, it is a blessing to have a 24-hour Pharmacy it you have a sick kid, work very long hours, work shift work, etc. (And, as others have noted, that is hardly the cause of this problem.)
Folks,
Regarding my comment on 24 hours…
note that the Duane Reade on 72 Street is also open 24 hours. It is a bigger store, with more infrastructure including security and street visibility.
Not seeing how there needs to be two stores about 4 blocks apart, both open 24 hours? (Other nearby drugstores also open 24 hours)
Absolutely there are people who need late at night – but not as many as one might think.
BTW Working at stores late at night/all night is pretty crappy. Store employees who have to ride home on the subway after their shifts, don’t get time with their families, etc.
(It is not as if residents of nearby luxury apartments are the people working at Duane Reade all night)
Lastly, we all have different opinions on a range of topics, right?
Not seeing that it ok to attack mine just because you don’t agree…
How about we let the business and the employees decide which stores are open and if they want to work there? Since when are we a neighborhood that says “close businesses and fire people because criminals have an obvious pattern of preying on them that the precinct can’t figure out”?
@Joe
No need to worry – corporations do decide how and where to operate etc.
There is nothing you or anyone else could say that would make a difference.
You do realize since DR, CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens vastly changed from drug stores to “convenience”, they are the de facto only supermarkets in many areas open 24/7.
If you need milk or cereal for the children in AM and didn’t get to a supermarket before most close (11PM), then you’d be out of luck without these 24/7 convenience stores.
Ditto for the large demographic of this “city that never sleeps” people who don’t keep 9-5 hours. That and or aren’t able to get to a supermarket/grocery store during day time hours.
None of this touches tourists, night clubbers, persons leaving early in AM on a trip that need certain things and so forth.
Your solution would leave a huge void with the only thing left being bodegas and similar type stores. All over far less selection at much higher prices. In addition their goods are often questionable from a quality point of view.
Fact that this suspect is not the “usual MO”, tells me at least we’re dealing with a white person who is either on drugs, and or has another habit that needs feeding.
No purpose? People get sick at all hours, and now that there are so few 24-hour bodegas, the all-night drugstores are the only places you can get food.
New York is a 24-hour city. There should be MORE stores open all the time and better police protection for them.
Are you serious? Should a store not be open during the daytime if a robbery occurs at lunchtime?
There are people who work during the daytime and have legitimate needs from pharmacies at hours that are unusual to you. The problem isn’t that pharmacies are open for convenience, it’s that armed robbers know they can easily pull off robberies at the –only– places open at 4am, because they do it repeatedly in this precinct.
Exactly Joe this city is a 24 hour city. And we need more 24 hour venues.Yeah, ever see the subways at 11 PM they’re almost like rush-hour at 5:30 PM. There are many work shifts and millions of stories in this city and this is just one of them.
The UWS shuts down at 10pm.
Sure, that’s the problem – open 24 hours.
Exactly, because no robberies occur between 7am and 10pm! Smh
Does this store really need to be open at 4:36am? Seriously 🤷♂️
No, all stores should close between 4:33 a.m. and 4:37 a.m. to avoid this kind of problem.
Lolol
Re: “white male, wearing … and a white mask, possibly resembling a surgical mask”
Holy Cow (as they say in India) look at those pix. Maybe it’s NOT a white male! Maybe it’s The Mummy!
Yes, 4:36a.m. IS past “The Witching Hour”, when supernatural beings roam, but maybe this Mummy’s alarm didn’t go off.
This is a great store with terrific staff. The pharmacy fills orders faster than anyone else and they are wonderful about dealing with insurance and hard to get items. I never feel unsafe there, and I’m sorry this happened to them.
All you constant complainers need to leave NYC. If you want to hole up in your house, hear no noise, not be bothered by other people’s activities and interests that aren’t the same as yours, have stores close at 6 and restaurants at 9 just get out. Go live in the burbs and start yelling at kids to get off your lawn.
So being upset that a gunpoint robbery occurred at 4:23 am is why anyone should move to the suburbs?
I’m not sure what thread you’re on, but no one here is asking for stores to “close at 6 and restaurants to close at 9”.
However, not having criminals running around pointing guns at people while robbing them SHOULD be a reasonable expectation at ANYTIME and ANYWHERE you live.
I am so sorry the employees had to be put through such a traumatic experience!
As someone who has desperately needed medication and hydration in the middle of the night and appreciated the work and kindness of the entire DR staff, I appreciate their 24 hours.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this criminal is a recidivist freed early or given a very lenient sentence based on some liberal judge’s lenient assessment of the danger these people pose to the community. UWS is a lab for felons and other troublesome people forced down our throats by liberal politicians who forget who they represent…
Wake up UWS!
Sure, if only New York would get rid of all the liberals…
Of course, then it wouldn’t be anything like New York (perhaps more like somewhere in Kansas or Kentucky). To those who don’t want to live in a liberal place like New York might I suggest that you not live in New York.
Dude,
Have you ever been to Kansa?. Have you spent time there? Didn’t think so.
Prejudge much?
Well, yes, and I don’t think it is a stretch to say it is different from NY – whether that is a good or bad thing depends on personal preference. (I assume people who live there consider that a good thing.) I think the crime rate is higher there, though.
I just don’t get it…risking it all to rob a place where most don’t use cash a anymore. All that for $300? Even Marv and Harry knew where store and houses to rob.
This idiot probably didn’t realize all large chain/retail or whatever stores by corporate policy limit amount of cash in any register. This has been policy for everything from large department stores on down since the 1980’s if not before.
Rules vary but between $300 to $500 is usually the sweet spot. Once a register reaches that amount cashier must stop, count out the register and turn in her/his “bank”.
The serious money is locked in safes located in “banks”, managers offices, or some other secure location. Getting at that money means more than just one person even with a gun for a host of reasons.
My parents owned pharmacy upstate that was the size of a Duane Reade. One day back in the 1980s there a man was on line at the Lotto machine in the back of the store near the Pharmacy. The line went through the store and out the door. He gets to the front of the line and pulls out a gun and asks for all the Lotto money.
Too bad for him, RIGHT BEHIND him were TWO very tall New York State Troopers. Smokey Bear Hat, Boots, Gauntlets, the whole works. They grabbed him by the shoulders and took him into custody.
The judge gave him extra time for being a moron.
I’m guessing he’s wearing a mask designed to protect the face from UV rays. These masks are readily available online.
FYI, by 3:PM yesterday, detectives from the Manhattan Robbery Squad had the suspect in custody. He is a 16 year old male from the neighborhood, so I will not be releasing his personal information. A search warrant was executed at his residence, and the firearm, which was not operational, was recovered. He has no prior arrest history.
Good job, as always!
Thank you for the update. Great job, NYPD!
Thank you to everyone at the precinct and thank you for the information.
Most likely it was an inside job and the guy worked at the drugstore.
No one who lives in this neighborhood has a retail job.
I hope Giacomo above reads this.
To all the Sherlock Holmes people out there.Let the pros do their job.