new york –Video obtained by CBS New York shows someone breaking into a store in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood. It's not the only store in the area to have recently been the victim of crime.
CBS New York has learned that at least five nearby small businesses have been broken into or vandalized in the past week.
Video shows man stealing from cash register at Hell's Kitchen dry cleaning store
Police said New Cleaners on West 49th Street was robbed early Monday morning.
Surveillance footage shows a masked man entering the store, locating a safe and opening it within seconds. Police say the man took $1,500 in cash and fled.
Store manager Ramon Garcia believes it was a set up.
“A professional person wearing gloves broke one of the keys.” [a tool]'' Garcia said.
A map showing the series of crimes being investigated in Hell's Kitchen.
CBS New York
W42ST.com first reported that someone broke the glass door of Al Horno Mexican on West 47th Street late Friday night or early Saturday morning.
Surveillance video shows a masked man dropping some type of utensil into a pile of trash outside the restaurant. He looks around and then goes back and breaks the glass.
A few nights earlier, at Hong Kong's Best Barbershop across Ninth Avenue, someone was seen making a very similar move, checking to see if anyone was around before breaking the glass door again. It was shown in another video.
Al Horno's Djibril Zakari believes the same person is responsible for both acts of vandalism.
Also this week, a window was broken at Seguidilla Dominican Bistro on West 51st Street. Employees appreciate that this happened after hours when no one else was around.
Totto Ramen across the street was also targeted.
“Anyone who does something like break the whole glass and try to cross the street or try to turn the corner is not in their right mind. If someone was here, one of us Imagine if we were one of them. We would have been there. “It's dangerous,'' said Cinnamon D. of Seguidilla.
Thankfully, no one was injured in these incidents.
The most common crimes reported in Hell's Kitchen are retail theft and theft, and NYPD data shows this crime is on the rise, making it more costly for small businesses to stay in business. It is shown that there are.
