A popular Pokémon card shop in New York City had at least $110,000 worth of Pokémon cards stolen by armed men.
The New York Times reports that the Poké Court was robbed on Jan. 14th, around 6:45 p.m, during its first community night. Three men entered the store, and one of them revealed a gun and pointed it at customers and coworkers.
A second person closed the front curtain of the store to prevent people from leaving, and while the others approached a display case, smashed it, and began cramming handfuls of Pokémon cards and packs into their backpacks.
“They started systematically taking the items that had really large price tags, really high values,” said store owner Courtney Chin. One of the high-value cards they took was of a professionally authenticated, first-edition Charizard card worth about $15,000.
The men took an unknown amount of money from the cash register, and stole a phone from a 27-year-old woman. Afterwards, they fled the scene — with the entire robbery unfolding in about three minutes. No one was hurt.
So far, no arrests have been made, and the investigation is continuing, according to New York City police officers.
This brazen New York City Pokémon store robbery is the latest in thefts related to the popular company at card shops across the country. Earlier this month, more than $300,000 worth of Pokémon cards and box sets were stolen in California.
Before that, someone stole more than $100,000 in rare cards and box sets from a shop in Massachusetts in July.
