By Gus Saltonstall
A gun-toting duo threatened an 18-year-old woman and robbed a smoke shop Tuesday night on the Upper West Side, a police spokesperson confirmed to West Side Rag.
Two men walked into Columbus Exotics at 945 Columbus Avenue, between West 106th and 107th streets, about 10:40 p.m. and demanded money and marijuana from the 18-year-old woman who was working within the store at the time, police said.
At least one of the men flashed a gun at the employee, police said.
She handed over cash from the register and the duo fled the store, jumping on a black electric bike and speeding off in an unknown direction, police said. It is unclear if they also got away with stolen weed.
The store employee wasn’t injured in the incident, police said.
NYPD did not have an official description of the suspects as of 10 a.m. on Wednesday.
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Wow. That poor teen employee. I am glad she wasn’t hurt.
I hope they catch these two dirtbags AND put them in jail.
The illegal smoke shops beget more lawbreaking… one major appeal of cannabis decriminalization was that it would reduce gang- and drug-related violence. The police have to crack down on the illegal stores.
A shame that this poor worker was put in harm’s way by the criminals who entered the store and the criminals she works for.
police? does this city have police?
Other stores get robbed too. They shouldn’t leave an 18 year old girl by herself in the store.
Had the store been staffed by 2 men aged 30 years each, the store still would’ve been robbed.
Exactly. Leaving a child in sole charge of the cash register (in an already questionable enterprise), late at night when other stores are probably already dark, is just inviting this sort of attack.
But thank heavens it sounds like the kid didn’t have to turn over the pot the store shouldn’t have anyway!
E bikes are terrific getaway vehicles. They can drive the wrong way on streets and sidewalks with no consequences.
These semi-legal weed stores are a God sent to criminals, unlike street weed dealers the stores don’t have guns. They have cash and weed. The only thing that actually surprises me is they were able to park an ebike on the street long enough to do a robbery and it wasn’t stolen by the time they went outside.
So glad that the bike lanes are getting some use.
No surprise. These smoke and weed shops only bring drugs and crime. No one thought about this when they passed this.
Because the folks on the city council are all intellectually challenged. Why they are on the city council.
100% false. This had zero to do with legal weed business. Read the article before you make false assertions.
I’m not sure. I thought the legal weed and undertable weed had to be paid in cash.
Leads to Lotta cash on premises?
Illegal weed is able to be paid for with credit cards.
It’s an illegal weed store. I wonder if they shut it down or just let it be? (Just kidding, we know they let it be) An 18 year old working at an illegal store all by herself for a product you have to be 21 to consume. So much is wrong with that statement. I’d like to give a big shout out to the police and Mayor Adams for looking the other way.
You only have to be 18 to sell merchandise that can only be sold to 21+, such as working in a bar, liquor store, or being a waitperson who serves alcohol.
“Oh no how could this have happened?”
Didn’t the governor and mayor promise to crackdown and close these illegal places?
Maybe these “kind of” stores should be required to have armed security. It creates yet another job for someone. Win win. Everyone say woke.
Depressed, an elderly neighbor hit the local smokeshop for weed, this led back to cigarettes, which then led to open heart surgery. Kids are telling me they can’t quit the weed because it is so accessible. What is the weed industry costing society?
Get rid of all these illegal weed stores.