West Deptford Police: Serial Robber Hits Another Convenience Store
Police say a man wanted in robberies in West Deptford, Gloucester Township, Cherry Hill, Glassboro and Washington Township hit the One Stop Shoppe on Parkville Station Road this weekend.
He came in like any other late-afternoon customer to the One Stop Shoppe Sunday, grabbed an item off the shelf and went to go pay for it at the counter.
That's when West Deptford police say it became clear he was anything but a customer, as the man—in what has become his uniform of a gray hoodie and a ballcap—pulled out a hammer and demanded money from the cashier.
As soon as the register was opened, police said the alleged robber reached over and grabbed an unspecified amount of cash from the drawer, then took off running, circling around behind the building. He was last seen sprinting through the CVS plaza behind the convenience store, police said. A K-9 search was conducted after this latest robbery, with no luck.
While he was carrying a different weapon this time, West Deptford Chief Craig Mangano said this isn't a copycat of the man who hit the One Stop Shoppe on the other side of the township, on Red Bank Avenue, exactly a week before.
“We think it's the same guy,” he said.
The 5:15 p.m. robbery at the Parkville Station store is just the latest in an alleged spree of robberies by the same armed robber, who's up to at least eight robberies or attempted robberies in Camden and Gloucester counties since he first began at the Church Street 7-Eleven in Blackwood Feb. 9.
Mangano described the suspect as a white man in his late 20s or early 30s, between 5-foot-7 and 5-foot-9, with a thin build, wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, a black baseball cap and sunglasses.
A joint investigation by multiple police departments and other agencies is currently underway, Mangano said.
Anyone with information about the suspect, or who might have seen something at this latest robbery, is urged to contact West Deptford police at 856-853-4599 x162.
Just doing what's right
7:00 am on Wednesday, February 22, 2012
He robbed a store with a hammer? Wow.