A “wolfpack” of teen vandals ripped apart a New York Chinese restaurant Saturday night, leaving about $20,000 in damage. Staff say they are becoming increasingly insecure as crime continues to plague the city.
Shocking footage shows more than a dozen masked youths rampaging at Fish Village restaurant in Queens shortly after 8:15 p.m. while guests were eating.
The mob, all unidentifiable in masks and hoods, wreak utter destruction as they flip tables and chairs. The senseless destruction also destroyed plates and damaged a large window.
The staff at the restaurant on 127th Street look visibly shaken in the video, and while no one was physically hurt, they are concerned for their safety.
“It was a bit frightening,” restaurant worker Tong Yi Hu said The New York Post on Tuesday. “We have no idea what caused it, and it was pretty unnerving.
“It’s getting more and more unsafe,” he said of the city.
Tony Hu, the manager of the restaurant, said he still has no idea why the attack happened.
“From the moment they came in to the moment they left, it only took a minute. They didn’t say a word. We have no idea what was going on,” he said CBS news.
“I was so afraid that they would harm my employees or customers. But it soon became clear that they just wanted to do as much damage as possible,” Hu said.
He explained that at the time of the attack, he had been standing behind the cash register to call 911, but by the time he got to the police, the thugs had already fled.
The manager said he is concerned about what the attack will mean for the restaurant’s future, fearing it will have financial ramifications and damage its reputation with customers.
The property damage was about $20,000 and the restaurant also had to offer the 30 or so customers their food for free.
Curtis Sliwa, the founder of Guardian Angels, reacted to the ordeal, calling the rowdy couple “a wolf pack” and saying his community guard crew would step in and patrol the eatery.
Outside the Fish Village restaurant in Queens. Guardian Angels will now patrol the area, the founder said
“This was a pack of wolves, a bunch of teenage thugs rampaging through the restaurant,” Sliwa told The Post on Tuesday. “Another Asian trader is being treated like a speed bump.
‘Nothing is going to happen [the criminals]. They are denounced as minors and back on the streets. Their friends will see the video and they will be treated like heroes in the neighborhood.
Sliwa, who previously ran for mayor, added that he believes “the city is out of control.”
Tony Hu, the manager of the restaurant, said he was shocked by the attack, which happened in less than a minute
He said his community watch crew will now try to support the restaurant by patrolling around it.
Community activist and president of Asian Wave Alliance Yiatin Chu shared the clip on Twitter, writing: “We have sunk to the point where no repercussions can be expected from this horrific attack on private property.”
Mayor Eric Adams has pledged to crack down on crime in the city after the numbers rose in all categories last year, according to NYPD data.
Shocking footage shows more than a dozen masked youths rampaging through Fish Village restaurant in Queens shortly after 8:15 p.m. while guests are eating
The staff at the 127th Street restaurant look visibly shaken in the video, and while no one was physically hurt, they are concerned for their safety
The mob, all unidentifiable in masks and hoods, cause utter destruction as they flip tables and chairs
Anti-Asian crime, in particular, boomed in 2021, peaking at 96 percent in New York, a century high, according to experts at California State University.
Adams has repeatedly pointed to the legal system’s current “catch, release, repeat” practice as the main driver of crime in New York City.
Last summer, he blamed the city’s criminal justice system for making the Big Apple the “laugher of our whole country.”
On Monday, the mayor revealed he is asking business owners to order customers to remove their face masks when entering businesses to reduce shoplifting.
He pointed out that if customers remove their masks when entering stores, their identities will be captured on camera in case a crime occurs.
But so far, criminal activity seems to have declined this year.
On PIX11 News Monday morning, Adams noted a recent drop in crime after it spiked and then leveled off during the pandemic.
On Tuesday, the New York City Police Department announced that subway crime was down 21.5 percent from the same time last year after Mayor Eric Adams ordered more officers to patrol the underground transportation system.
Last month, the NYPD revealed a 5.6 percent drop in major crimes for February compared to last year, including 11 fewer homicides compared to 2022.
And on Tuesday, the New York City Police Department announced that subway crime was down 21.5 percent from the same time last year after Mayor Eric Adams ordered more officers to patrol the underground transit system.
In the first nine weeks of 2023 alone, authorities say, police have issued nearly 10,000 more subpoenas than at the beginning of last year.
The number of rapes fell by 10.5 percent, the number of robberies by two percent, the number of shootings by 11.2 percent and the number of murders by 16.9 percent.
Crime was up 11.2 percent in 2023: 3,780 incidents compared to 3,398 in 2022.