Photo: Crooks this week drove off with an ATM that they ripped out of Key Food on Cross Bay Boulevard. Forum Photo by Michael V. Cusenza.
Confident crooks this week ripped an entire automated teller machine unit out of a Howard Beach supermarket, causing damage and stealing an unknown amount of cash, police said.
The bandits “broke a glass rear door” at the Key Food on Cross Bay Boulevard in the early morning hours of Monday, “removed an ATM, loaded it onto a truck” and sped away, according to authorities.
Store Manager Giancarlo Carlo said that he was first notified of the matter as he was driving into work to open the store at 7 a.m. A neighbor called him, indicating that the machine had been pilfered.
Carlo said the surveillance system captured the entire incident.
“First, I called 911, then I went to check the cameras,” he recalled. The only thing that was not recorded was the truck’s license plate.
“It was too dark,” Carlo said.
No one was hurt in the incident as the store was closed. Cops said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The eagerly anticipated branch of the supermarket chain, located on the old Duane Reade pharmacy site between 163rd and 164th avenues, opened with great fanfare last September.
By Michael V. Cusenza michael@theforumnewsgroup.com
