Gunmen Stick Up 2 Gas Stations Within 1 Hour: Police

WILMINGTON, IL — Three gunman menaced a gas station clerk Saturday afternoon and made off with his cell phone, cash and checks from the register and safe, and some Dutch Masters cigars.

The bandits struck at the BP station on the frontage road shortly after 2:30 p.m., pulling up in a newer Nissan or Kia sport utility vehicle.

One of the men hung back by the front door and the other two walked up on the 22-year-old clerk, police said, then all three pulled handguns.

The gunmen yelled for the clerk not to move and to give them all the money. One of the crooks went around the counter and jammed the barrel of his gun against the clerk’s head. A second vaulted the counter and looted the register.

The clerk was then ordered to surrender the key for the safe and to sit on the floor. The thieves emptied the safe of cash and checks, grabbed the clerk’s phone and some cigars, and took off. Before departing, they told the clerk to stay on the floor for a few minutes after they left, according to police.

“The employee was shaken up but not injured and refused medical attention,” police said.

The gunman were all between 6-foot and 6-foot-4 and appeared to weigh about 200 pounds. Two wore black sweatshirts and the third was in a red sweatshirt.

While Will County deputies were still at the BP station, they learned of another gas station robbery that had been committed in Dwight less than an hour earlier, police said. The description of the gunmen in Dwight reportedly matched those of the ones in Wilmington.

Anyone with information on the robberies is asked to call the sheriff’s office at 815-727-8575.

images via Will County Sheriff's Department