Robber Douses Hanover Clerk With Lighter Fluid
HANOVER (CBS) - A 19-year-old convenience store clerk in Hanover is so shaken, she can hardly talk about her experience with a robber who threatened to set her on fire Wednesday night.
It was about 10:15 pm, when the man in a grey hooded sweatshirt walked into Tedeschi on Hanover Street with a yellow bottle of lighter fluid. Surveillance video shows him approach the counter and point it at her.
WBZ-TV's Christina Hager reports.
"Sprayed it in a side-to-side motion from her shoulders down to her waist on her work apron, and told her, 'Give me all your money or I'll light you on fire,'" says Lt. Robert Heywood. He says the robber then pulled a book of matches out of his pocket. "Then he said, 'If you scream, I'll light you on fire.'"
Police say the clerk did the right thing when she did not put up a fight. He made off with the money, but left behind a key piece of physical evidence. A police canine tracked down his grey hooded sweatshirt, on the ground about a third of a mile from the store. Detectives turned it over to the state police crime lab for testing.
"We're concerned just because a copy cat could get the idea and if they lose control, somebody could get hurt," says Heywood.
The clerk stopped by Tedeschi Thursday night, she says, to make sure her co-workers are OK. "She's the sweetest. You come in here, she greets you with a smile every time...I feel so bad for her right now," says customer Debbie Correria.
Police say the robber they're looking for is about 5'10', and has one particular trait that could help people identify him. Witnesses said he walked like a duck with a limp. "...like a waddle," says Heywood.
