A 33-year-old man was held at knifepoint in Sunset Park and forced to walk into a nearby bank, where he withdrew $2,000 for his attackers before they fled, according to police. The confrontation happened on August 6 at the intersection of 4th Avenue and 56th Street, in the heart of one of Brooklyn's busiest commercial corridors.
Police said two men approached the victim at that intersection and held him at knifepoint before leading him to the bank, as first reported by News12 Brooklyn. Once inside, the pair allegedly forced him to withdraw $2,000 in cash. The victim was not physically hurt during the ordeal, and the suspects ran off eastbound on 54th Street after getting the money, per the same report.
Security professionals have a name for this exact method: an “express kidnapping” or “ATM kidnapping,” in which a victim is abducted just long enough to be marched to a financial institution and forced to withdraw cash on the spot, according to ASIS International. The short duration is the point — suspects get their money and disappear before anyone can intervene.
What Charges Could Follow
The legal exposure for whoever committed this crime, once identified, would be steep. Threatening someone with a knife during a theft elevates the charge to Robbery in the First Degree, a Class B violent felony carrying a mandatory minimum of five years and up to 25 years in state prison, according to New York Crime Attorneys' summary of Penal Law § 160.15(3). Separately, forcing a victim's movement under threat of violence — such as marching him from a street corner into a bank — can satisfy the statutory definition of Kidnapping in the Second Degree, another Class B felony punishable by five to 25 years, per Saland Law's reading of Penal Law § 135.20.
The intersection where the confrontation began falls within the NYPD's 72nd Precinct, which covers Sunset Park, Windsor Terrace, and South Slope, according to Patch. The precinct's stationhouse sits nearby at 830 4th Avenue. It remains unclear which specific bank branch was involved, whether surveillance cameras captured the suspects walking the victim inside, or whether detectives are linking this case to other recent knifepoint robberies in the area.
Part of a Recurring Pattern in Sunset Park
This is not the first knifepoint robbery Hoodline has tracked in the neighborhood this year. In June, NYPD sought two suspects in a May 16 knifepoint robbery in Sunset Park, and in April, Hoodline reported that two armed robbers held three teenagers at knifepoint outside 823 59th Street, making off with $60 in cash and an electric scooter. That same month, NYPD Crime Stoppers sought eight suspects who surrounded, beat, and held a 28-year-old man at knifepoint inside a building on 3rd Avenue, stealing $600.
Citywide, robberies were actually down 6.4% in February 2026 compared to the year before — 919 incidents versus 982 — according to NYPD CompStat data cited by Norwood News. The department has also leaned into high-visibility deterrence, launching its largest summer deployment in recorded history this year, with up to 3,800 officers sent nightly to 72 designated Violence Reduction Zones across 40 precincts, according to Vital City. Sunset Park, part of Brooklyn Community District 7's roughly 280 acres between 36th and 65th Streets, sees especially heavy foot traffic along its 4th and 5th Avenue shopping strips, the kind of environment that can make street muggings both easier to commit and easier to witness.
How to Report Information
No arrests have been announced in the August 6 incident. Anyone with information can call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS; the NYPD and the New York City Police Foundation offer anonymous cash rewards of up to $3,500 for tips leading to an arrest and indictment in violent felony cases.
