Gunmen Strike Green Apple Deli

Gunmen Strike Green Apple Deli
Community News Group / Robert Wirsing

An armed robbery at Green Apple Deli in Throggs Neck has shaken the community to its core.

On Monday, August 24, at 2 a.m., Imad Aloudy, 22, the deli’s cashier, was working when three men wearing hooded jackets and face masks held him hostage as they robbed the store.

During this incident, one of the gunmen pistol whipped Aloudy before the trio made off with a backpack full of stolen items.

According to a NYPD spokesman and Aloudy, the suspects made off with $1,300 in cash, about $600 worth of scratch-off NYS Lottery tickets, a carton of cigarettes and the cashier’s iPhone 5 and his iPad Air before fleeing eastbound on Lafayette Avenue, the same direction they approached from before entering the establishment.

Aloudy, a Throggs Neck resident, said he was away from the counter repairing the store’s coffee machine when two men entered the store.

One of the gunmen carrying a big backpack closed the front door as a third man stood at the far corner of the store pretending to be a customer.

A second man approached Aloudy from behind, gripping a black semi-automatic handgun and pressed it into his back warning him not to move.

The gunman directed Aloudy to stand behind the deli counter as his backpack- wearing accomplice armed with the same type of weapon jumped over the store counter and twisted the security camera around to face the wall before raiding the store’s two cash registers.

Aloudy pled with the perpetrators to spare his life as the gunman kept the gun aimed at the back of Aloudy’s head warning the young cashier not to move.

The gunman then pistol whipped Aloudy in the back knocking him straight to the floor behind the deli counter.

During the incident, the third man periodically checked the door and his cell phone as he texted, Aloudy added.

The gunman stood above Aloudy warning him not to move as the trio began leaving the store with their loot.

Shaken to his core, Aloudy got back on feet and called police who immediately arrived on the scene.

Aloudy did not require any hospitalization and a police canvassing of the area yielded negative results, police said.

The cashier presented officers with security footage capturing the early morning hold-up as it unfolded and showed this same footage to the Bronx Times.

“I’ve been working at delis for a long time and it’s the first time something like this has ever happened to me,” expressed Aloudy. “I was completely surprised by this because it’s such a nice neighborhood and there are so many nice people who live here. I don’t want to experience anything like this ever again.”

John Marano, Community Board 10 first vice chairman, stated there is additional footage of the two men parking their car on Lafayette Avenue and entering a dark backyard behind the deli at around 1:50 a.m., before walking up to the deli.

A few minutes later the suspects are seen exiting the store returning to the backyard before running to a car parked a few feet away and driving toward I-95.

“We’ve been asking for more police officers for this area and just because it’s a non-violent area doesn’t mean we don’t have crime here,” said Marano. “We need our fair share of officers after they’ve been allocated and the landlords of Green Apple Deli must do their due diligence to light up their backyard and install sensor lighting to make it far more difficult for people to hide and conduct any criminal activity there.”

Bob Beider, 45th Precinct Community Council president, said Thursday, September 3’s 45th Precinct Community Council meeting for 7 p.m. at the precinct house will discuss how merchants may be able to hire off-duty uniformed police officers as security.

For further information regarding this meeting, contact the precinct’s Community Affairs Office at (718) 822-5449 or email cao45pct@gmail.com.