The NYPD has released surveillance footage taken from a store that became the scene of a Molotov cocktail attack last month.
The aisles were bustling with customers when a bottle came crashing in, and a fire broke out inside of Tashkent Supermarket on 713 Brighton Beach Ave. on November 29. The recording obtained by authorities shows a masked man with a hoodie walk through the front door and lob the explosive before taking off. Some of the patrons who witnessed the blaze then rush over to help the employees extinguish it.
Authorities say that the manner in which the flames were put out helped to preserve evidence so that fingerprints and DNA may be extracted by forensics.
They were also able to secure video taken from security cameras watching over the area when the attack happened at around 2:30 a.m. on that Wednesday morning. The footage shows the masked man hop on the back of a motorcycle driven away by another individual.
The Uzbek store manager, Mark Gavrilov has been working with law enforcement officials to establish a motive as to why the six-month-old establishment was targeted. According to Gavrilov he's been able to survive in the community with his family and has not been the recipient of threats that might indicate that he has any enemies.
