A ‘wolfpack’ of teenage vandals ripped a Chinese restaurant in New York apart on Saturday night, leaving around $20,000 in damage, with staff saying they are increasingly unsafe as crime continues to plague the city.
Shocking footage shows over a dozen masked youths on a rampage through Fish Village restaurant in Queens shortly after 8.15pm as diners were eating their dinner.
The mob, who are all unidentifiable in masks and hooded tops, cause utter destruction as they flip tables and chairs. The senseless destruction also saw plates smashed and a large window damaged.
Staff at the 127th Street restaurant look visibly shaken in the video, and while no one was physically injured, they are worried about their safety.
Restaurant worker Tong Yi Hu said that he believes ‘it’s getting less and less safe’ in New York.
‘It was a bit frightening,’ he told The New York Post of the youth’s trashing of the restaurant. ‘We have no idea what the cause was, and it was pretty nerve-wracking.
Tony Hu, the restaurant’s manager, said he is still clueless as to why the attack happened.
‘From the time they entered to the time they left, it only took a minute. They didn’t say a word. We have no idea what was happening,’ he told CBS news.
‘I was so worried they were going to harm my employees or customers. But quickly became clear they just wanted to create as much damage as possible,’ Hu said.
He explained that he had been behind the register at the time of the attack ran to call 911, but by the time he got through to police, the thugs had already fled.
The manager said he is concerned about what the attack will mean for the future of the restaurant, as he fears it will have a financial impact and damage its reputation with customers.
The property damage was around $20,000 and the restaurant also had to give the 30 or so customers present their food for free.
Responding to the ordeal, Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa called the rowdy bunch ‘a wolfpack’ and said his community-watch crew would step in and patrol the eatery.
Outside of the Fish Village restaurant in Queens. Guardian Angels will now patrol the area, its founder said
‘This was a wolfpack, a bunch of teenage thugs rampaging through the restaurant,’ Sliwa told The Post on Tuesday. ‘Another Asian merchant gets treated like a speedbump.
‘Nothing is going to happen to [the criminals]. They will be charged as juveniles and be back out on the street. Their friends will see the video, and they will be treated as heroes in the ‘hood.
Sliwa, who previously ran for Mayor, added that he believes ‘The city is out of control.’
Tony Hu, the restaurant’s manager, said he was shocked at the attack, which happened in less than a minute
He said his community-watch crew will now try and support the restaurant by patrolling around it.
Community activist and president of Asian Wave Alliance Yiatin Chu shared the clip on Twitter, writing: ‘We’ve fallen so low that there’s no expectation of consequences for this horrific attack on private property.’
Mayor Eric Adams has promised to tackle crime in the city after rates were up across all categories last year, according to NYPD data.
Shocking footage shows over a dozen masked youths on a rampage through Fish Village restaurant in Queens shortly after 8.15pm as diners were eating their dinner
Staff at the 127th Street restaurant look visibly shaken in the video, and while no one was physically injured, they are worried about their safety
The mob, who are all unidentifiable in masks and hooded tops, cause utter destruction as they flip tables and chairs
Anti-Asian crime in particular soared during in 2021, spiking by 96 per cent in New York, hitting a century high according to experts at California State University.
Adams has repeatedly pointed toward the justice system’s current practice of ‘catch, release, repeat’ as a main driver of crime in New York City.
Last summer, he blamed the city’s criminal justice system for turning the Big Apple into the ‘laughing stock of our entire country.’
On Monday, the Mayor revealed that he is asking business owners to order patrons to remove their face masks when entering businesses to reduce shoplifting.
He pointed out that having shoppers remove their masks upon entering stores will lead to their identity being captured on camera in case a crime does occur.
But so far this year, criminal activity appears to have dropped off.
On PIX11 News Monday morning, Adams noted a recent decrease in crime after it spiked and then leveled off during the pandemic.
On Tuesday, the New York Police Department announced that subway crime is down 21.5 per cent from the same time last year, after Mayor Eric Adams ordered more cops to patrol the underground transit system
Last month NYPD revealed a 5.6 percent drop in major crimes for February compared to the same last year, including 11 fewer murders compared with 2022.
And on Tuesday, the New York Police Department announced that subway crime is down 21.5 per cent from the same time last year, after Mayor Eric Adams ordered more cops to patrol the underground transit system.
In just the first nine weeks of 2023, authorities say, cops doled out nearly 10,000 more summonses than at the start of the last year.
Rapes were down by 10.5 percent, robberies were down two percent, shootings were down 11.2 percent and murders 16.9 percent.
Felony assaults were up 11.2 percent in 2023 – 3,780 incidents compared to 3,398 seen in 2022.