The gun-toting duo who held up two employees inside a kosher liquor store on Nostrand Avenue — the same spot where a Jamaican-born Orthodox Jew was gunned down two years earlier — has been keeping busy, according to police who say the pair are wanted for two other Brooklyn robberies in recent months.
Investigators say the same suspects, both identified as black males between 25 and 35-years-old, held up the Sirus Car Approval Corp., a used car dealership on Utica Avenue near Flatlands Avenue on June 20, as well as the Interboro Auto Mall in Bushwick on Aug. 1.
Police say the duo switched gears when they barreled into the MB Vineyards on Nostrand Avenue and Avenue M on July 11 — the same spot where a hip-hop record executive turned Orthodox Jew was murdered.
Two MB Vineyards workers said the suspects entered the store at 9:15 pm, flashed their weapons and forced them into the basement, where the thieves tied them up.
The suspects robbed their victims and swiped a few bottles of booze before fleeing the scene, cops said. The duo tried to force the cash register, but couldn’t get it open, investigators were told.
No one was harmed during the July 11 robbery, but the scene was eerily similar to the hold-up that ended Josef Robinson’s life.
Police said Robinson was working at MB Vineyards on Aug. 19, 2010 when suspected gunman Eion Klass stepped inside, pulled a gun and held up Robinson’s girlfriend.
Robinson was shot twice as he wrestled with Klass, who was arrested for the killing a few days later.
Anyone with information regarding the two suspects is urged to call CrimeStoppers at (800) 577–8477. All calls will be kept confidential.
Reach Deputy Editor Thomas Tracy at ttracy@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-2525.
