Brazen armed robber swipes loads of Nike items from NYC Foot Locker: ‘We couldn’t stop him’

Steven Vago, Steve Janoski
·3 min read
A man robbed a Bronx Foot Locker, then flashed a gun at the guard who tried to stop him, cops said.
A man robbed a Bronx Foot Locker, then flashed a gun at the guard who tried to stop him, cops said.

A brazen gunman waltzed into a Foot Locker in The Bronx and stole a bunch of brand-name clothes — then whined on his way out that a worker dared to jostle him during the crime, cops and staff said Sunday.

The unidentified suspect hit the Third Avenue store about 7:45 p.m. April 9, police said.

He gathered a whole stack of Nike sweatshirts and sweatpants, according to security guard Lawrence Graham, who was not working that day but heard about the ordeal from the guard who was there.

This man allegedly robbed a Bronx Foot Locker, then flashed a gun at the guard who tried to stop him, cops said. DCPI
This man allegedly robbed a Bronx Foot Locker, then flashed a gun at the guard who tried to stop him, cops said. DCPI

“The guy came in and went straight to this right here,” Graham said as he gestured toward a rack of gray Nike sweats.

“He swiped clothes from right here, he pulled out a gun,” Graham told The Post on Sunday. “He put the gun back and went to the hats. Walked around here with the hats, got some more stuff and walked straight out.”

On the way out, he mouthed off to the guard, asking why the worker bumped into him, the employee said.

“[The guard] said, ‘I didn’t bump you — I see you have all my stuff,’ ” Graham said. “We couldn’t stop him because he had a gun on him. Once he flashed the gun, there’s nothing you can do.”

The armed robber strode outside to another man who was waiting on a scooter, and the pair fled, cops said.

Graham said robberies aren’t common in the Bronx store, although he’s seen people snatch hats off the racks. But no one has ever pulled a gun.

The Third Avenue Foot Locker is generally quiet, another guard told The Post. TOMAS E. GASTON
The Third Avenue Foot Locker is generally quiet, another guard told The Post. TOMAS E. GASTON

Graham pilloried state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Bronx Democrat, for shutting down Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan earlier this month to toughen sentencing for violent shoplifters.

Police are asking for the public’s help finding the unidentified suspect. DCPI
Police are asking for the public’s help finding the unidentified suspect. DCPI

“I just don’t believe raising penalties is ever a deterrent on crime,” Heastie infamously said at the time.

The store guard responded, “I think that’s bull.

“If someone keeps doing the same thing over and over — like, the first time, let it slide,” Graham said. “The second time, something should be done about it. Or they’re going to think it’s OK to keep doing what they’re doing.

“They just getting out like it’s nothing,” he said of suspects freed without bail or given light sentences. “That’s my take on that right there.”

The guard added that his store is mostly quiet — but he still has to keep his guard up.

“It hasn’t been too wild,” he said. “I see stuff happen outside, but not here. Not in Footlocker. You gotta’ be very vigilant.

“We are not supposed to go out the store after them,” he said of the shoplifters. “[Store officials] can replace the stuff, but they can’t replace our life.”

Police asked anyone with information 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 tips on the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/ or @NYPDTips on X.