Tense hours-long hostage drama at Brooklyn check cashing store ends peacefully

A hostage situation at a Brooklyn check cashing store by a lone gunman ended peacefully Saturday night after a tense few hours following the gunman’s surrender.

Police said the shooter entered the money transfer – check exchange and currency exchange store at around 7:45 p.m., initially posing as a customer, then announced a robbery, displaying a gun.

Two workers and a customer were inside at the time, but one employee managed to escape and called 911, sending police from Precinct 83 and other units rushing to the two-story attached store at 300-302 Irving Avenue, along a local mall. range.

Upon realizing he was surrounded, police said the robber barricaded the front door with several chairs.

At that point, NYPD hostage negotiators began a dialogue with him that lasted more than two hours.

In two moments, the thief pointed the gun at an Emergency Service police officer, who contained the fire, and at one of the hostages who was inside. Police said the bumbling bandit, not immediately identified, eventually agreed to surrender, climbing out of a second-story rear window and down a staircase to surrender to officers who waited with their guns drawn.

Police said his gun was fake.

The two hostages were taken to a local hospital for examination, just to be safe, deputies said.