A masked man tossed two flaming bottles of flammable liquid into a Brooklyn grocery store this past week.
No one was injured in the attack and the man’s motive presently remains unclear.
An unidentified employee at the Tashkent Supermarket in Brighton Beach spoke with the New York Post in the immediate aftermath of the attack.
“Everyone was scared. People were screaming. There was fire and smoke everywhere,” they said.
That same worker said there were roughly 10 shoppers and two other employees in the store at the time of the attack. The masked man then apparently fled on a motorcycle operated by an accomplice.
The entire incident occurred at or around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday morning.
A video released by the New York City Police Department on Friday afternoon shows the man lighting and throwing two improvised explosive devices commonly referred to as Molotov cocktails.
The would-be arsonist casually walks in, wearing a black bandanna and hoodie to obscure his face. He ignites both bottles and tosses them off-camera, his arms arcing over a pile of pomegranates.
The fires started by the explosives were quickly extinguished by the employees on duty at the time. Store manager Maks Gavrilov spoke with the local CBS affiliate.
“The night employees working and everyone was in shock, scared,” he said. “Right away we take it out when the fire guys came, the fire was down already.”
The NYPD are currently looking for two suspects: one is a white male who was last seen wearing all black; the other is a male who was last seen wearing a black hoodie and red shirt with black jeans and shoes.
[image via screengrab; video courtesy NYPD]
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