Man In Lipstick and Wig Robs Queens Pharmacy Twice, NYPD Says

JAMAICA, QUEENS -- Police suspect a gunman who disguised himself in red lipstick and a wig while stealing thousands of dollars in cash and pills from a Jamaica pharmacy targeted the same place in a similar armed robbery - sans red lipstick - about a month earlier.

The man - whose femme getup also included a fur-lined coat and sunglasses - walked into Aly-Marc Pharmacy at 179-41 Hillside Ave. and pulled out a gun on a 57-year-old employee at around 10 a.m. on Jan. 18. The gunman ordered him to open the door to the pharmacy's back room, where he demanded cash and a slew of prescriptions, police said.

The employee handed over around $3,000 in cash to the gunman, along with a handful of prescription pills and liquid medications, before the gunman forced him into a back room and tied him up, cops said. The suspect then hit the employee in the head with his gun and bolted from the pharmacy with his goods, cops said.

Police said the gunman ran east down Hillside Avenue and into an F train subway station at the 179 Street station. The suspect behind the makeup and wig is described as a 5-foot-6 man with a slim build, weighing around 130 pounds, who is roughly 27-28 years old.

Cops believe it's the same man who wore a wig while holding up the pharmacy the afternoon of Dec. 1. That time in a more modest jean jacket and baseball hat, the gunman wielded a firearm on a 63-year-old pharmacist and filled an Adidas bag with $3,600 in cash, 600 Oxycodone pills and eight pints of Promethazine. The man again fled east down Hillside Avenue into the same F train subway station, police said.

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).

Lead photo via NYPD.