Game Stop Robber Strikes 3 More Manhattan Stores, Police Say

NEW YORK, NY — Police are searching for a robber who has stolen nearly $3,900 from four Manhattan video game stores in the past month. The same man held up Game Stop stores in Chelsea, Union Square and the Upper West Side in five days after knocking over the same Upper East Side location twice, the NYPD said.

The man set a bag on the counter and demanded cash in all but one of the crimes, police said. He threatened store workers several times and once wrestled an employee to the ground but has never brandished any weapons, the NYPD said.

The most recent crime happened around 1:40 p.m. Tuesday, when the man walked into the Game Stop at 32 E. 14th St. and then asked the cashier for a Play Station 4 console, police said.

When the cashier said he'd go get one, the robber grabbed him by the shirt and demanded money from the register, police said. The man then took about $800 from two registers and fled into the 14th Street-Union Square subway station, the NYPD said.

Police say man similarly robbed a Chelsea Game Stop store at 1182 Avenue of the Americas around 12:30 p.m. Monday. He placed a backback on the counter, kept his hand in the bag and told the cashier to empty the register, the NYPD said. He took about $285 and fled north on Avenue of the Americas, police said.

The robber assaulted an employee in an Upper West Side store at 2232 Broadway around 7:34 p.m. Friday, police said. He put a dark-colored bag on the counter and demanded money from the worker, saying, "I don't wanna have to shoot," according to the NYPD.

The worker gave the robber about $1,100 from the register after the robber put him in a headlock and threw him on the ground, police said. The employee was treated at the scene for an injury to his right arm.

The three recent robberies followed a pair of similar incidents at the same Upper East Side Game Stop earlier this month. The man took about $1,700 from the store at 128 E. 86th St. in two robberies on May 6 and May 22, police said.

The suspected robber is described as a black man in his 40s standing about 6 feet tall and weighing about 200 pounds. He has a scar on the left side of his face and was last seen wearing a black T-shirt and dark-colored jeans, police said.

Anyone with information about the incidents can call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-577-8477 or 1-888-577-4782 to leave a tip in Spanish. New Yorkers can also text tips to 274637 or submit them online at nypdcrimestoppers.com.

(Lead image: Police say this man has stolen nearly $3,900 from four Manhattan Game Stop stores in the past month. Photo and video courtesy of the NYPD)