Surveillance Video Shows Armed Robbery At Emeryville Target
EMERYVILLE (CBS SF) -- Police in Emeryville on Tuesday released surveillance video of an armed robbery involving three suspects at a Target store over the weekend.
Early on the morning of Saturday, September 2, shortly after 12 a.m., officers from Emeryville Police Department responded to a take-over robbery that occurred at the Target store located at 1555 40th St. During the incident, three masked men entered the store and told everyone to get on the floor. At least two of the suspects were armed. One was armed with a handgun and the other with a rifle.
The video released shows the suspects arriving at the Target at about 12:07 a.m. with the first suspect holding what appears to be a pistol and wearing a backpack running into the store first, followed by the second apparently unarmed suspect.
As two store employees identifiable by the red Target shirts they are wearing move towards the door, the third suspect armed with a rifle appears and blocks the door, keeping them from leaving.
The suspect then motions with the rifle for the employees to move back from the door, at one point kicking at a female employee who was on the floor to move away from the entrance.
The suspect walks the two employees away from the door and out of the cameras view.
About 30 seconds later, the first two suspects are seen returning to the front of the store and the three masked robbers make their getaway with one of the suspects holding what appears to be an armful of goods as the three run out of the store.
Police report that the suspects took money from the cash drawer before fleeing the scene in an unknown make and model four door silver sedan.
Authorities said the amount of the loss from the store was unknown at this time.
Emeryville Police Captain Oliver Collins told KPIX 5 this kind of takeover-style robbery is rare in Emeryville. Solving the crime is now a priority for the department.
"It's just a brazen act that's very dangerous and pulls at the fabric of our community here in Emeryville," said Collins.
The men came in right when the cash was being collected from all the registers at the end of the night, but investigators would not speculating about whether or not this was an inside job.
"Our biggest concern is why this place? Why that time of night? Why Emeryville? Of all the targets in the Bay Area, we don't particularly see that location as a soft target area," explained Collins. "It's not close to a freeway on ramp, off ramp, it's not something that strikes us as an easy target."
Anyone with information regarding the suspects or the crime is asked to call the Emeryville Police Department at 510-596-3700.