| Updated: 7/16/2009 8:41 am |
Published: 7/15/2009 4:33 pm |
Pulaski County deputies are looking for a brazen robber. The crook demolished the front of a gas station to steal thousands of dollars in cigarettes. Police don't know who he is yet but surveillance shows he's willing to do just about anything to get in.
A red sedan backed all the way into a Shell station, the man inside jumped out of the car and into the store through the smashed front doors. Now they're sweeping up, pulling down beams and replacing them at the store off Dixon Road and I-530 in Pulaski County.
The store was closed when the smash and grab happened just before 2:30am Wednesday morning. Store clerk Mary Hammett says she’s thankful no one was in the store.
"To be honest with you, horrifying fear because at any point a person's life is at danger and then it makes you wonder what that person is going through," Hammett says.
And for whatever reason, the crook seen in the surveillance targeted tobacco, grabbing an estimated $5000 worth of cigarettes, and then running out and driving off.
"Yeah, cigarettes are expensive but that's your habit,” customer Steven Collins says. “Don't make taxpayers and business owners pay for your problems."
Detectives don't know who he is yet. Customers are looking at the flyer trying to see if he looks familiar.
“Any tips, any help we can get we're happy to have it," Hammett says to a customer.
Even with a big hole in the front, the store stayed open. Hammett keeps ringing up customers and hopes someone will help them catch this guy before he hits again.
"Right here, there he is,” Hammett says. ”And if anybody knows anything about him, we'd love to have some information, we want him off the street."
There have also been similar style crimes committed against discount stores statewide the last several months. Arkansas State Police tell FOX16 News those crimes don't appear connected to Wednesday morning's break-in.
