Quick-Acting Employee Leaves Crook Cashless During Attempted Robbery
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OAKLAND PARK (CBSMiami) -- Police are hoping surveillance video can help identify a young man who tried to hold up a convenience store clerk using a gun.
You can also hear the voice of the criminal as he yells at the victim, "Put the money in the bag."
The Broward Sheriff's Office hopes someone will recognize his voice or face.
The victim, 59-year-old gas station manager Veli Alci, told CBS4's Peter D'OENCH, "The guy came here and put a gun to my face and said give me the money. But I said I don't have money. I was not scared. I saw his face and hands and did not think he would shoot."
It happened Thursday, April 14 at the Mobil gas station at 901 W. Oakland Park Blvd as video showed the crook enter the store, brandish a gun and demand money from the clerk.
Despite being caught off-guard, the clerk was able to quickly escape into a back room, forcing the armed robber to reach over the counter and try to open the register himself.
"I wanted to be careful. I needed to protect myself. This has never happened before," said Alci, who came to the U.S. from Istanbul, Turkey in 1986 and has worked at the station for 10 years, and added that he had never been robbed before.
The father of two children said, "I would like to seem him caught, of course."
Once the gunman realized he could not get to the cash, he quickly fled the store in a light-colored Toyota.
BSO spokeswoman Gina Carter said, "The clerk in this case was very lucky. The suspect held a gun within a few inches of his face and was yelling at him in a very stressful situation. We don't have any open cases regarding this individual but that might change after other agencies see the pictures of him."
Carter said the gunman is "young, in his early 20s and is an African-American male who was wearing dark clothing and sunglasses and held a black handgun."
Carter said the victim did the right thing.
"Obviously this was a stressful situation and the most important thing was his own safety. That is more important than anything else," she said. "He got out of there alive."
Anyone with information is asked to call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS (8477) or alert them online at browardcrimestoppers.org.
Crime Stoppers will pay up to $3,000 for the tip that leads to an arrest.
