Police are seeking a woman for questioning after allegedly assaulting a Staten Island store employee during an attempted shoplifting attempt

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – The NYPD is seeking a woman for questioning in connection with an alleged incident of attempted robbery and the assault of a store employee in Mariners Harbor.

Police were reported that around 10:20 a.m. on Tuesday, October 1, the unknown woman attempted to remove several items from the shelves of the store, located in the Forest Commons shopping center at 2040 Forest Ave.

Police were unable to confirm which specific store the incident allegedly occurred at.

However, when the woman tried to leave the store, the woman allegedly punched a 25-year-old employee in the face several times before fleeing on foot eastbound on Forest Avenue, according to a statement from the NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner of Public Information .

The victim suffered minor injuries but refused medical attention, police said.

The NYPD has released a surveillance image of the person wanted for questioning in the case.

Armed with a new statute that came into effect earlier this monthProsecutors have begun filing charges against individuals accused of assaulting store employees during shoplifting.

As part of a bill authored by Senator Jessica Scarcella-Spanton (D-North Shore/South Brooklyn) and signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul last spring, the assault of a store employee was elevated to a Class E felony, making the crime punishable by up to four years in prison.

“As we have said for some time, no one should have to fear being attacked when they go to work,” Scarcella-Spanton previously said of the new law.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or in Spanish: 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at at X @NYPDTips.

All conversations are strictly confidential.