A man tried to rob a Brooklyn cash machine Saturday night and took three people hostage with a fake gun, police said.
The suspect entered the Darwin Money Cash Check store on Irving Avenue in Bushwick around 7:45 p.m. and “acted as if he was trying to make a transaction and then announced a robbery,” NYPD Chief Jeffrey Madeley said. He told reporters On Saturday night.
Police say two employees and one customer were inside the store at the time, with one employee fleeing and calling 911.
When police arrived on scene, they found the front entrance barricaded with “multiple chairs,” Madeley said.
As hostage negotiators began speaking with the suspect, the suspect pointed a gun at officers through the window and put the gun to the head of one of the hostages.
After talking for two hours, the suspect “climbed a ladder through a window at the rear of the building and surrendered to officers,” Madeley said.
Police said the gun the man pointed at officers was later determined to be a fake.
The man began hyperventilating while in police custody and was treated by paramedics before being transported to an area hospital.
Two hostages who were not injured were also taken to hospital for examination.
The charges have not been released.
