Surveillance video caught the moments a shoplifter repeatedly used a hammer to hit the head of a 70-year-old Brooklyn laundromat worker who attempted to stop the early-morning theft last week.
What are the details?
The suspect entered the Aqua Wash laundromat on East 98th Street near Livonia Avenue in the New York City borough’s Brownsville neighborhood just before 5 a.m. Thursday, police told the New York Post.
Video released late Tuesday shows the suspect heading to the back of the store where police said he grabbed some items — among them apparently a few bottles of bleach — without paying for them, the paper said.
Then the laundromat worker tried to stop the theft, grabbing the suspect and holding on to him even after the suspect grabbed a hammer — which belonged to the store — and repeatedly bashed the worker in the head with it.
The Post said the suspect hit the laundromat worker about four times in the head, dragging the elderly man across the floor before they both fell down.
Video shows the suspect dropped items he was attempting to steal, but he apparently took off with the hammer.
What happened to the worker?
The paper said emergency services treated the laundromat worker at the scene for cuts on his head.
Police are still looking for the suspect who was last seen wearing a light green shirt, dark red shorts, and a yellow cap, the Post said.
Elderly man attacked with hammer
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How are folks reacting?
Twitter commenters reacted rather pointedly and sarcastically to the news of the violent attack:
- “We need common-sense hammer control,” one commenter quipped. “3-day waiting period to buy hammers.”
- “Just gonna say it,” another user wrote. “If you don’t own the place (and even maybe if), just let them walk away. Obviously these thugs don’t care if you’re elderly.”
- “As New Yorkers, we all know bleach prices are exorbitant, especially at bodegas where it’s $7,” another commenter observed. “That prospective carpenter isn’t in the wrong; circumstances forced his hand. We’re all entitled to bleach; it should be free.”
- “This is normal; nothing to see here,” another user chirped. “Let’s fix the climate instead.”