Cops: 2 arrested in convenience store stabbing, rob try

Two Hempstead men who police said tried to rob a convenience store in Wantagh early Sunday, slashing a 69-year-old employee in the process, were arrested a short time later -- after officers found them sitting in a car near the crime scene.

Shamar Parker, 25, of 63 Martin Luther King Dr., and Elijah Coleman, 23, of 16 Revere Ct., both in Hempstead, were each charged with first-degree and second-degree attempted robbery, as well as two counts of second-degree assault.

In addition, Nassau County police said Parker was charged with third-degree criminal possession of a weapon and Coleman was charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Police said the 7-Eleven employee was outside the store on Merrick Road at Beech Street at 5:10 a.m., shaking out a runner rug, when Parker, armed with a knife, and Coleman, armed with a bat, approached him -- and demanded he come with them into the store. The victim refused.

Police said Parker then stabbed the man under the chin -- and "slashed him across the face with the knife."

The two then fled northbound onto Beech Street.

Responding officers then found Coleman and Parker sitting in a car on Beech Street, about a block from the crime scene, police said. As officers approached, police said, Parker "quickly exited the car" and fled north on Beech. Coleman remained in the vehicle -- and was arrested without incident.

A search located Parker at 8:13 a.m. as he hid under a bush in the rear yard of a home on Roxbury Avenue, police said.

The victim was transported to a hospital, where he was treated and released.

At arraignment Monday, orders of protection were issued against Parker, held on Monday afternoon on $250,000 bail, and against Coleman, held on a $150,000 bail.

With Ellen Yan