Brooklyn laundromat owner shot to death in robbery was dad of 3 children
BROOKLYN, N.Y. (PIX11) -- His name was Money Perkins, but if you ask people in a Brooklyn neighborhood, his laundromat business was not all about making money.
“If we didn’t have soap, he provided it. If you ran out, he didn’t worry about things like that. If you left, he would put the money in the machine. He provided free bags. He just did a lot. He did everything he could do. He helped you to your car,” said East Flatbush resident Priscilla Sherrod.
The 37-year-old entrepreneur known for his kindness was shot and killed just before 6 p.m. on Dec. 1 inside his laundromat on Clarendon Road. The violent robbery was caught on surveillance camera, but the group of men involved have not been caught.
Perkins was a husband and father of three children: a 2-year-old toddler, an 8-year-old daughter who helped give his eulogy and a 17-year-old son who was looking forward to applying for college with his dad. All of them will now have to face the holiday season and the rest of their lives without their father.
A GoFundMe page has been created to raise money to support Perkins' children.
Neighbors said Perkins worked around the clock to provide for his family. His life was taken over a piece of jewelry. Police said the four suspects got away with his gold chain.
“We are sick and tired of this. When are we in the Black and brown community going to put an end to the senseless gun violence?” said Natasha Christopher, a coordinator with Mothers for Safe Cities.
Local leaders said gun violence needs to be addressed from every angle, including providing more prevention resources in vulnerable communities and more support for victims’ families. But the first order of business in this case is justice.
“If anybody has information, please pretend that information is about your son, about your brother, your cousin, about your neighbor because the one thing we can provide for this family is justice for this shooting,” said New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
“The same way they did that to him, anyone could be subjected to that type of crime,” Sherrod said.
There is a reward for anyone with information that leads to an arrest. If you saw, heard or know anything about the suspects involved in the shooting, you are urged by police and the Perkins family to speak up.
Submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).