Police are searching for a black man who allegedly robbed a bank in Howard Beach Wednesday.
According to police at the 106th Precinct, an African-American suspect walked into the Citibank at 156-19 Cross Bay Blvd early in the afternoon on Wednesday and handed a note to a bank teller demanding money. The suspect made off with an unspecified amount of cash.
The incident marks the second time in two weeks that the Howard Beach Citibank has had money stolen from it. Over the weekend of Feb. 25, two suspects made off with upwards of $400,000 in cash from the ATMs of the bank after using a key to open the machines while the bank was closed during the night.
Officials at Citigroup, the parent company of Citibank, issued the following statement Wednesday: “Earlier today, there was a robbery at our Howard Beach branch. All customers and employees are safe and the branch will be open tomorrow for normal business. We extend our thanks to the NYPD for their quick response and will continue to work with them on their investigation.”
Several similar robberies or robbery attempts have taken place in February around Queens, with an African-American suspect also being sought by the NYPD’s Major Case Squad in connection with those crimes.
In those instances, a black man had also handed a note to tellers at three Chase banks in Rego Park, Sunnyside and Forest Hills demanding cash. Of those attempts, the suspect only managed to make off with cash in the Rego Park robbery.
There was also a rash of burglaries at four banks in Middle Village and Ridgewood in January during a 10-day span, where suspects also used notes to rob banks.
Anyone with information on the Howard Beach robbery can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or the 106th Precinct at 718-845-2211.
By Jean-Paul Salamanca
jp.salamanca@theforumnewsgroup.com
