Authorities in Long Island, New York's Suffolk County are hunting for two armed robbers who targeted a regularly running poker home game in Sayville that left one person wounded. Two masked men entered the home on Sunday night, through an unlocked door, where a game was in progress, robbing the players at gunpoint of cash, cellphones, and jewelry before fleeing the premises.
At the door, the robbers ran into a 12th person who was just entering the home. One of the robbers fired two shots, wounding the man in the abdomen, before successfully escaping the scene. The 38-year-old victim was hospitalized but is expected to survive, while officers have gathered little information on the two robbers to date.
Repeat robbery of home game
Authorities believe the game was targeted due to being widely known in the neighborhood and area as a home where private poker games were regularly and frequently held. Fourteen years ago, in 2010, the same house was targeted in a robbery, though the two underage robbers in that incident were armed with knives and a pellet gun, and were pursued and apprehended.
"It was a very similar incident. There were two suspects involved, they came into the house, the proceeds were similar: cellphones, jewelry and cash. So we're certainly going to take a look at that incident," Suffolk Police Det. Lt. Anthony Calandrillo told New York's NBC4 News.
The Suffolk police have also issued a call to the public for information connected to the armed robbery. The department is part of a confidential police hot-line network through which tips can be submitted, available at 1-800-220-TIPS.
