Sun Staff Reporter
Friday, April 25, 2008
*To see this story as it originally appeared in the Daily Sun, click here
The masked man thought he could intimidate the gas station clerk into emptying the register.
It’s not your money, he said. It’s not worth your life. The clerk wasn’t having it.
Just after 1 a.m. on Wednesday, the man walked into the Mobil station at 4026 Lake Mary Road. He paused at the newspaper rack by the entrance and made demands from behind the dark sunglasses and blue handkerchief obscuring his face.
The police report recorded their exchange like a movie script.
“Give me all the money, lady.”
The 61-year-old clerk folded her arms across her 5-foot, 4-inch frame and stared at him.
Nope.
The would-be robber walked closer to her at the south end of the counter and persisted. He had something in his right hand, but he never moved it.
The clerk didn’t get the feeling it was a weapon, although he might have wanted her to think so.
“It isn’t worth your life. It isn’t your money. Give it to me.”
“No!” she fired back. “You want money, go get a damn job.”
He did go somewhere — his whereabouts are unknown.
But he left empty-handed.
Police searched on the ground and in the air for a suspect, but never contacted one. The case was sent to detectives, who gathered fingerprints and a surveillance video, but as of Thursday had little else to work with.
“If the fingerprints come out good enough we will put them into the system to see if they match up with anybody that’s ever been arrested for (a) felony, and see if we can find a lead that way,” said Sgt. Tom Boughner from the Flagstaff Police Department. “But currently we have no leads.”
Robberies had been on a slide this year, with the first one not coming until March. Last year, police took 63 robbery reports.
The suspect in the attempted Mobil holdup was wearing a dark blue hooded sweatshirt with the hood up, baggy blue jeans and white shoes, along with the sunglasses and blue handkerchief across his face. He stands about 5 feet, 2 inches tall and weighs about 150 pounds. He was not wearing gloves, and the skin on his hands was light.
The suspect was last seen walking northbound on South Walapai Drive. Anybody with information should call the Flagstaff Police Department at 774-1414.
Hillary Davis can be reached at 556-2261 or hdavis@azdailysun.com.
