They must have been sure they would get away.
But two teens involved in an alleged deodorant robbery inside the Key Food grocery store on West 235th Street on Monday at around 5 p.m., ended up being chased and handcuffed by police.
Store manager Vinny Gomez said all four teens were carrying backpacks and Key Food staff started watching them after noticing them acting suspiciously.
What they saw was one teen filling up his bag with Dove powder fresh deodorant while another blocked him from view.
He and employee Jimmy Serrano approached the group of four outside.
“When we accosted them outside, they got violent with us,” Mr. Gomez said.
“One of them brandished a knife, and the other one brandished a box cutter and another one had a wrench …” he said.
Another teen threw an Arizona Iced Tea bottle at the men, they said.
“They was just screaming a bunch of nonsense about Blood this, Blood that, making gang signs,” Mr. Serrano said.
During rush hour, police sirens wailed throughout the neighborhood as officers from the 50th Precinct tried to apprehend the suspects. One attempted to flee on foot as police caught up to him at the intersection of Riverdale and Greystone avenues. He ended up cuffed and shirtless in the back of a police vehicle, where two men from Key Food came to identify him. Another was caught on Irwin Avenue and West 234th Street.
Police said they recovered six deodorant packages when they arrested the teens.
Surprisingly, police said reports did not say which weapons were used and did not note the references to the Bloods gang. The police account also differed from the witnesses’ in that the report apparently said there were only three teens. Witnesses told police there were four. Police also recorded the crime as having taken place well after the first suspect was apprehended.
