Two unidentified men are wanted by police for allegedly breaking into 19 businesses scattered across Brooklyn over a five-week stretch, smashing windows to get inside before grabbing cash and merchandise and running off on foot. No injuries have been reported in any of the break-ins, but the sheer geographic spread of the crime pattern — stretching from Bensonhurst to Williamsburg — has put business owners across the borough on edge.
According to News12 Brooklyn, police say the two suspects allegedly entered commercial establishments by throwing an object through a window, then removed money and other property before fleeing. The outlet reports the pattern includes 19 separate commercial burglary incidents, though police have not disclosed a combined dollar figure for what was taken. The NYPD is now asking the public to help identify the pair.
Per reporting from the Brooklyn Eagle, the burglaries took place over a five-week span between August 3 and September 10, spanning a 38-day window during which the same pattern repeated across the borough. Surveillance images released by police and published by the Eagle show the two suspects as young men with slim builds and dark complexions, one with short dark hair, both of whom are described as stealing cash and retail merchandise before fleeing on foot after each break-in.
A Trail Stretching Across Sixteen Neighborhoods
The break-ins were not confined to one corner of the borough. Incidents were reported in Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, Marine Park, Mill Basin, Bergen Beach, Borough Park, Kensington, Flatbush, Ditmas Park, Midwood, Crown Heights, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Windsor Terrace, Williamsburg and East Williamsburg, according to News12 Brooklyn. That footprint touches at least a half-dozen precincts and cuts across some of Brooklyn's busiest commercial corridors, suggesting the suspects moved widely rather than sticking to a single neighborhood or business type.
The pattern also echoes a modus operandi familiar to commercial property crime nationally. Security industry research compiled in commercial property crime reports, cited by Hoodline's prior coverage, indicates that glass windows and doors remain the primary point of entry for storefront break-ins nationwide, with most commercial burglaries lasting less than four minutes — a detail that helps explain how a pair of suspects could hit 19 locations without getting caught in the act.
What Charges Suspects Could Face
Under New York Penal Law § 140.20, knowingly entering or remaining unlawfully in a commercial building with intent to commit a crime constitutes Burglary in the Third Degree, a Class D felony carrying up to seven years in state prison, according to Justia Law. If the pattern is ultimately tied to one or two individuals across all 19 locations, as police currently suspect, the potential exposure would compound with each additional charge.
The NYPD Detective Bureau includes borough robbery squads, precinct detective squads and a Major Case Squad with distinct responsibilities, according to background compiled on Wikipedia. Whether detectives have connected surveillance footage or a getaway vehicle across all 19 sites remains an open question that police have not addressed publicly.
Part of a Broader Late-Summer Pattern
This is not the first commercial burglary spree to hit Brooklyn this year. Seven weeks before this alert, NYPD Crime Stoppers sought a serial burglar linked to an 11-incident pattern across the 76th, 77th, 78th, 79th, 83rd and 94th precincts, in which cash was stolen from safes entered through basement doors, Hoodline reported in its coverage of the basement burglar. And in June 2025, suspects pried open a commercial gate at 4501 8th Avenue in the 66th Precinct and made off with roughly $2,000 in cash registers before fleeing on foot, according to Hoodline's earlier reporting on that 8th Avenue burglary case.
Those localized sprees stand in contrast to the borough's broader crime trajectory. NYPD CompStat data covering the period through September 13 shows reported burglaries citywide fell 14.4% year-over-year, to 7,717 complaints compared with 9,010 during the same period in 2025, according to figures published by NYC.gov. Burglaries in the first three months of 2026 fell 21% to the second-lowest level. Even so, the concentrated wave of storefront break-ins across sixteen neighborhoods shows how a single pattern can still leave ground-floor businesses feeling exposed even as the citywide numbers trend downward.
How to Report a Tip
Anyone with information is asked to contact the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). The program, administered by the New York City Police Foundation, offers confidential cash rewards of up to $3,500 for tips that lead to an arrest and indictment, according to the New York City Police Foundation. Tips can also be submitted through the Crime Stoppers mobile app for those who prefer not to call.
