By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

POLICE are “aggressively” pursuing two suspects responsible for an armed robbery of Super Value’s Blue Hill Road location yesterday afternoon, a senior police official said.

Chief Superintendent Clayton Fernander, acting officer-in-charge of the Central Detective Unit, said police are very concerned about the “bold” armed robbery that saw the suspects escape on foot with an unspecified amount of cash from one of the store’s cash registers.

Although police have not confirmed how much was stolen, The Tribune understands that less than $400 was taken from the register.

The brazen robbery happened around 12.30pm, as patrons and employees milled about the popular grocery store.

Chief Supt Fernander said a lone gunman came in and held a cashier and a number of patrons at bay. The gunman robbed one cashier of an undetermined amount of cash and tried to rob other cash registers.

However, as the gunman entered and approached the first cashier, the other cashiers fled to the back of the store, making it impossible for the man to gain access to the other cash registers, Chief Supt Fernander said.

A second suspect served as a look out while this occurred, darting in and out of the store during the robbery, police said.

Chief Supt Fernander said both suspects, after obtaining cash, fled on foot in a northern direction on Blue Hill Road and “disappeared” into the Englerston constituency.

A senior employee at the store, who wished not to be named, also provided an account of the ordeal.

The worker said one of the thieves had “a white towel over his head” and the other wore a “black hat”. The duo walked into the store, picked up an item, and proceeded to the front of the store where one of them allegedly asked the cashier to cash the item, The Tribune was told.

Once the cashier opened the register, one of the thugs allegedly reached over and began grabbing the money out of the drawer, the employee said.

Meanwhile, his accomplice was elsewhere trying to steal money from another cash register. However, the second suspect was unsuccessful “because none of the other drawers were open”.

At this point, the senior employee claimed that the gunman took out his weapon and started pointing it at the rest of the staff, demanding that they give him money. In fear, the employees ran to the back of the store seeking safety.

At this point, the worker said the suspects left the store, fleeing with an undetermined amount of cash.

Chief Supt Fernander said police were disturbed by the boldness of the crime.

“We are very concerned and we are aggressively out there trying to identify these individuals,” Chief Supt Fernander said. “We are also viewing some footage from that store and once we view it and there is good info from the footage, we will put it out there to the media so the world can see who these individuals are to assist us in trying to identify them and quickly assist us in bringing them into custody.

“We will continue as a force to go out there and aggressively deal with those individuals who continue to offend and put people in fear of their bad ways and we will never back down until we ensure that this little country is a safer place to live, visit and play.”