Foot Locker robbed at gunpoint

The Foot Locker shoe store at 34th and Walnut streets suffered a major armed robbery over the weekend. According to University Police Captain John Richardson, the gunmen stole almost $2,000 in cash, as well as $1,000 in merchandise, during the robbery, which occurred at 5:53 p.m. Saturday. Like many other area businesses, Foot Locker employs a private security guard. But unlike other local stores, Foot Locker's guard was armed with a nine-millimeter Glock handgun, according to Richardson. "Most security guards don't have the license or the training for such a handgun," he said. Despite that advantage, the gunmen managed to disarm the guard before proceeding to rob the store. Police suspect that the gunmen may have posed as customers when they first entered the store. "It's a clothing store, so it's very possible that they posed as customers to try stuff on and see what they liked," Richardson said. "It's not like criminals walk into a store carrying a sign saying 'I'm a crook'. "They just had to wait for the right time," he continued. "The guard can't watch everyone." Following the robbery, the gunmen escaped in a late model Dodge that had been waiting outside. Yesterday afternoon, a plainclothes security guard stood watch alongside an armed guard. This was the third armed robbery reported on campus in the past two weeks, according to Richardson. "With this type of crime, it's either feast or famine," he explained. "Things are quiet for a while, and then all of a sudden they start to appear in bunches." The robbery took place on a main street at a time when the street was well-populated. But Richardson said such crimes are not always readily discernible from the outside. "People outside may not have even known that a crime had taken place," Richardson said, adding that the actual robbery probably only took a few minutes. Foot Locker's district manager declined to comment, and repeated calls to Foot Locker's corporate headquarters in New York City were not returned.