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'Armed' man holds up Shell station on First Street
Imitation gun and cash found next day

by Glenn Wohltmann

A masked man with what probably was a plastic imitation handgun held up the Shell gas station in the 4200 block of First Street on Aug. 5, a police report said.

The man walked into the Shell convenience store holding a dark gun in his right hand and a dark-colored bag in his left, and told the clerk, "Give me the money, put it in the bag and hurry up," according to the report, which said the holdup took place around 9:30 p.m.

The cashier opened the register, put the money in the bag and the man fled on foot toward Vineyard Avenue, the report said.

The clerk described the robber as a male with some kind of bag on his head, with holes cut out where his eyes and mouth would be, possibly wearing a blue shirt, the report said. He was brandishing a small black pistol with a white cloth wrapped around it, according to the report.

The cashier said she thought he was short -- possibly as short as she is, 5 foot 2 inches -- with a thin build; she said he had no accent but a young-sounding voice, but because she was frightened, could offer little else in the way of a description.

A surveillance video bore out much of the clerk's description. It showed a light-skinned male, approximately 5 foot 6 inches tall with a thin build, and a light colored bag or knit mask covering his face and head, wearing an oversize white short-sleeved shirt, dark baggy pants, dark colored shoes or boots, and carrying an open black backpack his left hand and the gun in his right.

The next evening at about 7:38 p.m. police received a call to Kottinger Village Community Park in the 4100 block of Vineyard Avenue. An officer found a black backpack in the bushes in a corner of the park with a black plastic replica Airsoft handgun inside, along with a light brown knit ski mask, black sweat pants and $42 cash.