Convenience Store Crook Caught On Tape After Trio of Weekend Robberies

Tools

Story Published: Dec 21, 2009 at 7:05 PM PDT

By Peter Bukowski

YAKIMA -- The video of a convenience store clerk fighting off a would be robber is startling. The man is Andrew Perez, a new employee at the A1 gas and grocery on 3rd and Knob Hill. That gas station is one of three places to be hit by robbers in the last 4 days.

"It's pretty scary because a lot of it's going on," says Yakima resident Veronica Linder. "It took a lot of courage for this last robbery for someone to fight him off because I don't think I would have."

That could be why the last of this latest trio of robberies featured two men with machetes. That took place late last night at the Walgreen's on Summitview. This time of year is notoriously bad for these opportunistic criminals

Convenience stores are supposed to be easy for you, not for criminals. But as hard as it is for cops to catch these criminals, it's even harder to stop them before they get a chance.

"The best way to prevent them is to kinda deter them and one of the best ways to deter them is making it obvious that you have a very modern video surveillance equipment," explains Capt. Greg Copeland with Yakima PD.

Videos have helped police create a profile of the subjects, and while it's too late the stop these crooks, it isn't too late to catch them.

"If you're a criminal it's just about the dumbest crime you can commit because you get a relatively small amount of cash and sometimes people literally get $10 or $20. And yet you're committing a crime that if you're armed at all you can get many many years in jail for it," explains Copeland.

These crooks likely know they're on camera. And that carefree, or careless approach makes the suspect even more dangerous and unpredictable.

Police say the timing of these robberies is odd, but at this point they haven't been able to connect them. No suspects have been identified.

Current Weather

Current Temp 41.0 °F

A Few Clouds

Watch the story

More Weather

Current Weather

More Weather

Upload directly from your mobile device.

Learn how

YouNews

This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.