Gun-Wielding Trio Targeting Brooklyn Smoke Shops, Cops Say

BROOKLYN, NY — A gun-wielding trio are targeting smoke shops in a robbery spree across Brooklyn, police said.

The trio — including two suspects who robbed a smoke shop in Crown Heights — have robbed or tried to rob five smoke shops across Bushwick, Canarsie, Bed-Stuy and East New York in late February and early March, NYPD officials said.

In each incident, the group takes out a gun and demands the smoke shop workers hand over property, police said.

Most recently, they stole $1,400 and CBD merchandise from the Wyckoff Deli in Bushwick about 9 p.m. on March 11, police said.

The trio had also visited the same deli in February, stealing CBD products, a cellphone and $1,000, police said. In that visit, they sprayed an unknown substance in an employee's face during the robbery, police said.

In Bed-Stuy, the trio grabbed CBD merchandise and stole $900 from Paradise Island Smoke Palace on Ralph Avenue on March 8, police said.

The suspects left empty-handed in two other robberies on Rockaway Parkway in Canarsie and Livonia Avenue in East New York, according to police.

Police have released a series of photos from the robberies:

Anyone with information in regard to these incidents is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or, for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/ or on Twitter @NYPDTips.