Man Arrested for Gunpoint Robbery on Eighth Avenue

Cops arrested an 18-year-old crook on Jan. 17 for a gunpoint robbery on Eighth Avenue and St. Johns Place that occurred four days earlier, a police source in the 78th Precinct said.

According to the police report, the man arrested was responsible for the following mugging:

On Jan. 13, three crooks mugged a man walking on Eighth Avenue for his laptop and cell phone at gunpoint.

The 22-year-old victim told police that he was walking on Eighth Avenue when he was approached by three black men in their 20s at the southwest corner of St. Johns Place at around 9:55 p.m. One of the crooks, who had short black hair, appeared about 25 years old, stood 5-foot-11, and weighed about 170 lbs., pulled out a silver firearm and said, “Don’t make noise, be quiet.”  The second crook, who was about 20 years old, stood 5-foot-10 with an Afro, said “I saw the phone, give me the phone!” The trio took the victim’s iPhone and briefcase, getting away with an Apple laptop, wallet, debit and credit cards, and a few books. After the mugging, the crooks fled southbound on Eighth Avenue towards Lincoln Place.

Deputy Inspector Michael Ameri of the 78th Precinct said that the arrest was due to “good police work” and a cooperating witness.

“Our detective squad did a great job and the victim helped us too,” Deputy Inspector Ameri said in an interview. “The victim was able to identify the suspect from pictures, since he was already in our system from an arrest in 2011.”

Ameri said that the suspect was arrested in 2011 for robbing a cell phone from a victim on Seventh Avenue.

After Ameri’s anti-crime team arrested the 18-year-old suspect on Jan. 17, he asked a few other robbery victims to come in to see if they recognized him. One victim identified him as the culprit from a Dec. 12 robbery in Prospect Park.

“He’s responsible for at least two robberies, and now he’s incarcerated,” Ameri said. “It was good work all around.”

The point Ameri wanted to get across was the importance of witnesses cooperating with police.

“The key to this arrest was that victim of this crime cooperated with us. He was a huge help, without the positive identification from him it would've been hard to catch this man,” Ameri said.