BRONX – On January 8 at about 7:30PM, vandals smashed a window of the East Tremont Diner in the Bronx. A kind of BB gun or pellet air gun weapon was apparently used to shoot marbles and smash the restaurant window. The business is owned by Greek expatriates Kostas Mastoras, Christos Katehis, and Kyriacos Katechis.
Mastoras told TNH that “it was my shift Sunday night working in the restaurant and I heard a noise like something was breaking. I looked around to see what became of a customer who was near the window who called to me. I went and found the people were terrified because they did not know what had happened. I saw that someone had shot the window with this marble.”
Mastoras added that “from what the police told me, it was not an actual rifle, but these specific air guns, because the hole in the corner on the upper side of the window has the diameter of a marble.”
Regarding whether he had many customers in the diner, he said, “At that time because of the cold we must have had about 6-7 tables, it was 7:30 on a Sunday evening, the next day we all go to work, but usually at that time the shop is full.”
The East Tremont Diner is almost 16 years old. All three originate from Othoni Island near Corfu. When asked if something similar happened in the past, Mastoras said “no, it is the first time.” He added that “the region here is very good, it is a quiet neighborhood. We are in a good area of the Bronx.” He noted that “the world has a bad impression of the Bronx, but we are in the best section.”
About the extent of the damage, Mastoras said, “We already got yesterday 2-3 people to come and give an estimate. I calculate that replacing the window will cost from $500 to $800.”
The perpetrator or perpetrators are still at large and have targeted other shops in the neighborhood. Mastoras informed us that “the police told us that we are not alone, but about 27-28 stores were hit in this way all along East Tremont Avenue and elsewhere, too.”
Asked if the perpetrators went by car or on foot, he said, “I did not see, but immediately ran to my customers to see if everything was okay, that was my priority. We have double windows and the marble ball did not penetrate the glass, but only broke the outer window glass. When I saw that everything was good I went out, but some seconds had passed.” The perpetrators were gone.
Mastoras is a loyal TNH reader for years. He said “from the first day that I came to America in 1987,” the Herald has never missed a day in the shop.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
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