Clerk Struck With Weapon During Early Morning Robbery

A Middletown 7-Eleven clerk was struck in the head with a weapon during a robbery that happened early Wednesday morning.

According to investigators, Middletown patrol officers were called to the 7-Eleven at Trenton and Woodbourne roads for a reported armed robbery that had just happened around 1 a.m. Wednesday. Upon arrival, they talked to a clerk who laid out what had happened.

The clerk explained that a suspect walked into the store with what appeared to be a long rifle. The suspect held the weapon to the overnight clerk’s back and ordered the employee to turn over cash from the register, police said.

The clerk and suspect were reportedly involved in a scuffle over the weapon that ended with the suspect striking the clerk in the head with the butt of the weapon.

After the struggle over the weapon, the clerk followed the suspect’s orders and turned over the “small amount” of money in the register, police said.

The suspect fled the store and is suspected of having a lookout just outside the front doors of the 7-Eleven, police said.

“The clerk and another witness advised that the two subjects were observed loitering in front of the store for a long period of time before the robbery occurred.  During a check of neighboring surveillance systems, it appears that the suspects arrived in the area in a sedan,” Detective Patrick Nicastro said.

Police said the sedan was spotted parking behind the neighboring Dairy Delite building about an hour before the robbery.

Nicastro said he believes the long rifle was actually an air rifle, which are easily available for purchase and fire pellets using compressed air.

The suspect with the weapon was described as a white male of average height and build. He appeared to be in his late teens or early 20s and was wearing a bandana over his face. A firm description of the lookout was not provided but he also wore a bandana over his face.

The suspects were last seen fleeing toward the rear of 7-Eleven, police said.

Anyone with tips that could help solve the crime are asked to contact Detective Nicastro at 215-750-3865 or pnicastro@mtpd.org.