Late Tuesday night, a four-year-old boy was shot in the chest during a botched robbery attempt outside a halfway house in the Bronx. Yesterday, authorities said that they wouldn't charge father Bobby Baltazar for shooting one of the attackers, 17-year-old Jose Marte, who he had chased down after his son Cincer had been shot. But things might not be that simple for Baltazar: “It’s a very close call. Generally speaking, you’re not allowed to shoot people in the back as they’re running away,” defense attorney Ron Kuby told the Daily News about Baltazar’s legal prospects. more ›

Late Tuesday night, a four-year-old boy was shot in the chest during a botched robbery attempt outside a halfway house in the Bronx. Bobby Baltazar and son Cincer were returning from having ice cream when three robbers confronted them at gunpoint in an apparent attempt to steal Balthazar's coat. The robbers' gun went off during a struggle with Baltazar, hitting Cincer; as the attackers fled, Baltazar picked up the gun and shot one of the teens in the head. But police say Baltazar won't be charged in that shooting: “The father was forthcoming. The reason he did what he did was because of his son, who was shot. He’s a victim now,” an official told the NY Times. more ›

A four-year-old Bronx boy was shot in the chest last night during a botched robbery attempt. Four-year-old Cincer Balthazar's father told police that the two of them were outside a halfway house at Grand Avenue and Evelyn Place around 10:30 p.m. when two or four—reports vary—men tried to rob them, and opened fire. According to police, the boy is now in critical condition. “He’s my world. He’s our little Spider-Man. He always walked around with a Spider-Man mask,” a woman who identified herself as the boy’s aunt told the Post. more ›

Police released video of a Chinese food deliveryman being beaten by three men in a Morningside Heights apartment building's hallway; a fourth man acts as a lookout. The assault occurred on Friday afternoon; according to NY1, "Police say they ordered Chinese food, then waited outside the sixth-floor elevator for the deliveryman to arrive." more ›

More details have emerged about the shooting in a Brooklyn auto repair shop on Saturday night. When a group of five men tried to rob the shop, off-duty Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority officer Anthony Presley managed to shoot at the suspects while being fired at. Now it turns out that an off-duty NYPD school safety agent was also in the shop during the robbery, and he picked Presley's service revolver and fired at the suspects, "emptying the clip." The only problem: The school safety agent could face charges because he's not licensed to carry a gun. more ›

Yesterday, a man who tried to rob the Chase Bank above Penn Station was shot by a police officer. Now it turns out the 69-year-old attempted robbery suspect, John Daniel Stolarz, was just released from federal prison on Wednesday after serving time for a bank robbery. According to the Post, "Stolarz was supposed to have checked in at a halfway house as part of his federal parole, the source noted. Instead, 'it looks like he went and robbed the first bank he saw,' one source said." more ›

As police continue to search for a man who allegedly bit a cabbie on the arm, neck and back during an attempted robbery, the livery cab driver has come forward with his side of the story. Mahmoud Seck says that when the gun-wielding passenger demanded his money, he threatened, "Your family --- expects to see you dead!" more ›

Where is Buffy Summers when you need her? The police are looking for a man who, while allegedly trying to rob a cabbie last Saturday, repeatedly sunk his teeth into the cabbie's body to get the cash. more ›

One of the armed four men who tried to rob a Harlem store, only for the 72-year-old shop owner to fire at them, killing two and wounding the others, was released on $60,000 bond. Shamel McCloud headed from the hospital to court on Saturday and was charged with first- and second-degree robbery; his relatives in Pennsylvania put up their home for the bail. According to the NY Times, "The criminal complaint said one of the men who was fatally shot had hit a store employee with a 9-millimeter pistol. McCloud and the two others struck the employee with their fists and tried to restrain him with duct tape, according to the complaint." McCloud's lawyer said his client did not have a record, saying he was "good family kid." The Post went to McCloud's home to get a comment: "Outside McCloud's East Elmhurst house, one relative said, 'He's coming along, he's alive,' before a second relative threatened to toss a pit bull at reporters." more ›

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly spoke about the Harlem shop owner who fired at four armed men trying to rob him and beating one of his employees, killing two of the suspects and injuring the other two. Kelly said of 72-year-old Charles "Gus" Augusto, "He certainly had a right under the law to defend himself, defend his co-workers. It looks like his co-worker could have been seriously injured or perhaps killed." more ›

This morning, not even a day after shooting four would-be robbers—killing two of them— who stormed into his West 125th Street restaurant supply store, Charles (Gus) Augusto was back at work. The Daily News saw the 72-year-old open Blue Flame's doors at 7:45 a.m.; Augusto told the News, "I haven't done anything wrong. I'm sitting here minding my own business and they come in with guns...I don't feel like a hero. I would have felt like a hero if I could have talked that kid into going home." more ›

A Long Island bodega owner showed a startling video surveillance of a bat-wielding man trying to rob his store—which ended with the store owner ultimately taking pity on the thief and giving him $40 and bread! Store owner Mohammad "Mo" Sohail said of the May incident, "He was begging, crying 'I'm sorry. I have no money, no food, no job. My family's hungry.' He's really crying, 'please don't call police.'" more ›

The Brooklyn shopkeeper, who, while being held up by armed robbers, managed to wrestle away a gun and fatally shoot two of the men earlier this week, told his wife, "He's sorry he could not take out everybody." The Daily News reports that Youssouf Drame, who was shot in the stomach, is still in critical but stable condition. His wife says he wants the store to reopen and also recounted what he told her about the incident, "Once he saw them pistol-whip his employee, he knew they were going to kill them, too. So he fought back and he did not care if he was being shot at. He knew they were going to rob and kill them and he was not going to go down like that." She added, "It has nothing to do with being brave... It has to do with going on with life." The police are still looking for two additional suspects. more ›

Police believe three robbers confronted a shop owner in Brooklyn's Wingate neighborhood and the situation ended with two of the robbers dead. The Daily News reports that Youssouf Brame managed to fire at the armed robbers, leaving "one bandit...dead" and "another [running] from the store bleeding from a fatal chest wound" (a third suspect escaped). Brame was shot in the stomach, and it's unclear who may have fired first. Brame's store, at 1051 Nostrand Avenue and Lefferts, is described as a variety-store, and a neighbor told the NY Times that Brame "would always talk with everybody, he was so friendly." Brame underwent surgery and is in critical but stable condition. more ›

Two robbers approached a man in his West Hempstead driveway to rob him. One man fired at him, but the 35-year-old homeowner "fired back" with his licensed Glock 9mm. No one was hit and the two robbers fled. Police were able to find one of the suspects, Jose Celis, who was charged with attempted murder and robbery. Police are still looking for the second suspect. Newsday says that police "could not immediately say if [the victim's] pistol license -- or the attempted robbery and assault -- was related to his business." more ›

An off-duty police killed one of two men who attacked the desk clerk of a luxury building in Chinatown late last night. Detective Martin Carrano, 36, was also stabbed in the neck and back; his injuries, as were the desk clerk's, were non-life-threatening more ›