Police Asking For Help Finding West Newton Armed Robbery Suspect
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WEST NEWTON (KDKA) -- Surveillance cameras caught a man threatening a Westmoreland County gas station employee as he robbed the place, and police are asking for help finding him.
Business at the Sunoco on Mt. Pleasant Road in West Newton was as busy as ever Friday. Outwardly, all seems normal, but it's not -- especially for Bob, a clerk there.
"Bob was very scared. As a matter of fact, he is still scared," store manager Beverly Cortese said.
Images caught on surveillance cameras show why -- a man armed with a knife, came into the store, put a knife to Bob's neck and said he wanted all the cash in the register.
"He pinned Bob against the refrigerator by the front door and had a knife in his left hand. Bob got away from him and ran out the door screaming," Cortese said. "There were some people in the back. They came around. By that time, the person that came in to rob us had already walked behind the counter, pushed some buttons on the register, opened it, took what he wanted, and ran up over the hill."
State police are on the case. Cortese says she has a hunch the masked man isn't from out of town.
"I suspect he's from around here. He knew to run up [the hill]," she said. "There's just a few houses up there, but if you go up there, you can park a car or you could go over the hill down into town."
Cortese says the thief got away with a few hundred dollars, but he also stole the clerk's sense of security.
"I'm very angry towards this person for making Bob afraid," she said. "Bob not only works here. He lives here, and no one should be afraid in their home."
