Robber at Walgreens Implied He Had a Gun, Threatened to Shoot

A young store clerk who had been on the job only a month was frightened to tears Saturday night when a robber implied he had a hidden gun and threatened to "pop" him if he didn't give him all the money in his cash register.

According to police:

At 9:03 p.m. Saturday, police answered a report of an armed robbery at the store at 2656 Wauwatosa Ave. A trembling, tearful clerk told officers that he had been bagging merchandise for a woman at the only open register when a young man wearing a black sweatshirt with the hood up came up behind her and put a black drawstring bag on the counter.

He said the man held one hand under his sweatshirt as if he had a gun and told him to “Put the money in the bag.” The clerk said that as he began to do so, the robber said, “Give me all of that before I pop you.” When all the money was bagged, the man ran out of the store.

The customer who had just checked out was standing just a few feet away but did not hear the threats. She did, however, see and realize what was happening. She thought he had his hand on a gun in the pocket of his sweatshirt rather than underneath it. She walked quickly back to the photo desk to tell other employees that the store was being robbed.

By the time the night manager reached the front of the store, the suspect had fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Video footage from outside the store showed the man walking up and running away but there was no getaway car visible within range of the camera. Video stills from inside the store were "grainy," police said.

Descriptions given by the clerk, two customers and another store employee all varied considerably. While all agreed he was wearing a black hoodie and black pants, his height was given from 5-foot-6 to 6 feet tall, and his weight from 135 up to 170 pounds. The clerk, who got the best look at him, thought he was a light-skinned African-American, but another employee who got a look at him thought he was Hispanic.

Most strangely, the other employee who saw him from some distance said he had a mask or bandanna pulled up over his mouth, but neither the clerk who had confronted him face-to-face nor any other witness, including the customer standing next to him, mentioned a mask. A customer who was walking up to the store when he was leaving said they made eye contact but she could give no reliable description.

The only thing the clerk was very sure of was that the robber had distinctly hazel eyes.