Armed Robbers Strike Twice at Restaurants' Closing Time

Armed Robbers Strike Twice at Restaurants' Closing Time

By WYDaily Staff Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Police have released this image of the Richmond Road McDonald's robbery suspects.

Williamsburg Police are investigating a second, late-night armed robbery at a Williamsburg McDonald’s in as many days.

Shortly after midnight today (Wednesday) a group of four men and one woman confronted McDonald's employees as they were leaving the business at 329 Second St. for the night. The suspects, who were armed with handguns, forced the employees back into the business and ordered them to open the safe.

The suspects took an undisclosed amount of cash, then took the employees to the back of the restaurant and ordered them onto the floor.

The suspects then left the store and fled the area; police do not know whether they left on foot or in a vehicle.

No one was injured in the robbery.

The suspects were described as black, who wore all black clothing, gloves and covered their faces. Police did not have surveillance images available this morning.

Early Tuesday morning the McDonald's in the 1600 block of Richmond Road was the target of a similar armed robbery. Two men - both wearing black clothing, gloves and with T-shirts over their faces - entered the restaurant near closing time. They forced four customers who were still inside to join employees behind the counter, then ordered employees to empty cash drawers and the store safe. The suspects directed the patrons and employees to the back room, where they were made to stay on the floor while the robbers fled. No one was injured in the Tuesday robbery.

Anyone with information about either of the armed robberies is asked to call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.

Comments

+4 #5 Guest 2011-06-16 08:46

Quoting Retired:

In the 1970's I was on a Police Department not too far from here. We placed signs in the local fast food and stores advising the establishment might be under surveillance by an armed police officer. We randomly "staked out" the businesses. It wasn't too long before someone would rob a store at gunpoint. We would attempt to stop the robber as he left the store. If the suspect pointed a gun in our direction, we would defend ourselves with a shotgun. The results of a shotgun blast at close range is very predictable. The odd thing is all the robberies STOPPED as soon as the bad guys realized we were serious about the signs in the window. Food for thought.

A great solution, but wouldn't we be infringing on the armed robber's rights? It seems the that today we are more concerned about protecting the rights of those who commit crimes than those who are victims of crime.

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-1 #4 Guest 2011-06-15 19:02

Quoting Wburgman:

And just today, WVEC reports that a check cashing place in Wburg was robbed.

"Investigators say they're looking for a light skinned black man in his early to mid 20s, about six feet tall with short black hair" VERY similar description, and I wouldn't be surprised if this individual was robbing people to feed a growing drug dependence.

If this crime wave isn't stopped, it will hurt the local economy because nobody likes to visit areas that are perceived as unsafe. When was the last time you went to the east end of Newport News, for ANYTHING?

The sad thing is that I am almost certain that someone out there knows who is doing this, and is remaining silent. Aside from the trauma the victims have gone through, I am glad noone was physically harmed in these robberies, and hope they catch the punks before someone gets hurt.

Lat time I went to East End was around 96. I hit up Peddlers Village and bought some mixtapes from Future Hits.

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+16 #3 Guest 2011-06-15 14:32

In the 1970's I was on a Police Department not too far from here. We placed signs in the local fast food and stores advising the establishment might be under surveillance by an armed police officer. We randomly "staked out" the businesses. It wasn't too long before someone would rob a store at gunpoint. We would attempt to stop the robber as he left the store. If the suspect pointed a gun in our direction, we would defend ourselves with a shotgun. The results of a shotgun blast at close range is very predictable. The odd thing is all the robberies STOPPED as soon as the bad guys realized we were serious about the signs in the window. Food for thought.

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+5 #2 Guest 2011-06-15 14:14

And just today, WVEC reports that a check cashing place in Wburg was robbed.

"Investigators say they're looking for a light skinned black man in his early to mid 20s, about six feet tall with short black hair" VERY similar description, and I wouldn't be surprised if this individual was robbing people to feed a growing drug dependence.

If this crime wave isn't stopped, it will hurt the local economy because nobody likes to visit areas that are perceived as unsafe. When was the last time you went to the east end of Newport News, for ANYTHING?

The sad thing is that I am almost certain that someone out there knows who is doing this, and is remaining silent. Aside from the trauma the victims have gone through, I am glad noone was physically harmed in these robberies, and hope they catch the punks before someone gets hurt.

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+10 #1 Guest 2011-06-15 13:13

Fact: anyone notice the similarities of over 90% of the perps' robberies during the past year, locally?

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