Thieves get locked inside convenience store, shoot out window to escape
The owner of a West Broadway convenience store says it was "very, very lucky" no one was hurt Thursday morning when one of his employees was robbed at gunpoint.
A lone employee was working around 2 a.m. at D's Market on Broadway near Spence Street when two masked men entered the store with a gun and demanded cash and cigarettes. Another man waited outside, said police.
"We are [open] 24 hours so this type of situation, a robbery, we [were] expecting it, but not with a gun. Usually people show up with a knife … or baseball bat," said Daouda Dembele, owner of D's Market.
"They asked for money which they got."
But then the situation quickly escalated.
As the employee was getting the men cigarettes they demanded, he accidentally pressed a button that automatically causes the store's doors to lock, said Dembele.
"So on the way out the robbers got stuck in the store," he said.
The men returned to the clerk and pointed the gun at him again. The panicked employee was unable to locate keys to open the door, so the men shot out the glass at the front of the store and escaped through a window, said Dembele.
No one was hurt and police say they are looking for three male suspects, all are around five-foot-six in height.
Dembele said his employee was shaken by the incident but is feeling better today.
Other robberies investigated
Police are also investigating two other robberies of businesses on Kenaston Boulevard this week.
The first happened just after 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the 1700 block of Kenaston. A female used a weapon to threaten staff at a clothing store before stealing a number of items.
About an hour later and a couple of blocks away, another store was robbed. Three people — two males and a female — threatened staff with pepper spray and stole some clothes.
The males got away but a female suspect was found and arrested by police, who are investigating to see whether the two incidents are connected.
