Collingswood Police Tracking Gas Station Robbery Suspects

Collingswood police are searching for a trio of masked men who they say beat up a gas station attendant at gunpoint in a robbery Sunday night.

Three men stormed the supervisor's booth at the Route 130 Valero gas station around 10:30 p.m. on September 15.

One man threatened the attendant with an automatic handgun while the others tried to talk him into opening the safe, police said. 

When the worker, who does not speak English, failed to comply, they punched, kicked, and stomped him, and beat him with an axe handle the attendants kept in the booth for their protection. 

The assault was interrupted by the approach of a customer pulling up to get gas. When the men saw the car drive up, they fled with an unspecified amount of cash, and in an unknown direction.

The driver called 9-1-1, and the attendant was transported to the hospital, treated for minor injuries to his face, and was released.

The men were dressed in dark clothing, all wearing scarves, masks, and white sneakers. Police are looking for any information as to their identities. 

Gas stations near major highway interchanges have become ever-popular targets for robbers in recent months. 

In December 2012, a 44-year-old Blackwood man and his juvenile accomplice were charged in a string of incidents in Camden and Gloucester counties.

In the months prior, gas station robbers struck in Brooklawn, Collingswood and Maple Shade, as well as in West Deptford, where the Lukoil gas station on Crown Point Road and Red Bank Avenue was robbed by suspects who reportedly fled in a silver Dodge Stratus.

A Woodbury man was killed in a robbery-homicide at a Route 45 gas station in August, and just earlier Friday, Haddon Township police began investigating an attempted robbery at the Route 130 Gulf gas station.