By Daniel Massey
A security guard was shot in the side and robbed of $20,000 while making an early-morning deposit Saturday at a bank on Cross Bay Boulevard in Howard Beach, police said.
Thomas Agbasonu, 51, was wounded after two men attacked him as he was depositing cash in the night drop at the Roslyn Savings Bank at 156-02 Cross Bay Blvd. just before 3 a.m., police said.
He was listed in stable condition Monday afternoon in the intensive care unit at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, said Ole Pederson, a hospital spokesman.
Agbasonu was approached at 2:57 a.m. by two men, who shot him in the left side and then took a bag containing about $20,000 in cash and his gun, police said.
Newsday reported the large stash of cash was made up of receipts from a local movie theater.
David Stewart, vice president and chief of security for Roslyn, said the bank knew little about the robbery .
“He was coming in using night drop,” Stewart said, referring to the bank’s off-hours commercial deposit facility. “The bank wasn’t open. It was an ATM vestibule at 3 in the morning.”
There were no arrests and police were continuing with an investigation.
The shooting came at a time when murders in the 106th Precinct were on the rise, according to Police Department statistics through Aug 18. There have already been five homicides within the precinct this year, including the July 5 strangling of 19-year-old Niala Mohammed in Ozone Park and the Aug. 2 shooting of 19-year-old Angel Reyes, also in Ozone Park.
In the first 8 1/2 months of 2001, there were three murders in the confines of the precinct, which covers Howard Beach, Ozone Park, South Ozone Park and Lindenwood.
Crime in all other major categories was down in the precinct from last year, including a 35 percent drop in burglaries and a 29 percent decline in felony assaults. Overall crime was down nearly 20 percent so far this year compared to the same period last year.
Reach reporter Daniel Massey by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
