Wawa robbed by gunman early yesterday

The Wawa Food Market at 3744 Spruce Street was robbed by an armed man early yesterday morning. Wawa employees reported that a black male roughly 30 years old entered the store at around 4 a.m., bought a cup of coffee and proceeded to pull a gun on a male cashier. The gun was a nine millimeter, according to University Police Deputy Chief of Investigations William Danks. No shots were fired, however, and no one was injured during the incident. After flashing the gun, the man then demanded that the employee give him money. "He got away with an undetermined amount of cash," Danks said, noting that the total amount taken was probably not very large because convenience stores generally do not keep much money in the cash register. Jennifer Holmes, a Wawa employee who was working during the robbery, said the alleged assailant approached her co-worker and said "'Give me the whole [cash register] drawer.'" "And he took the whole drawer," Holmes said. "All I heard [my co-worker] say was 'We just got robbed'... and I didn't really believe him until he said to call the cops," she added. The alleged assailant, who was described as having a thin build with a light complexion, curly hair and a goatee, then fled east on Spruce Street, possibly ducking into a subway station. The man was wearing a black denim jacket and pants, brown boots, gloves and a pair of dark sunglasses at the time of the incident. Holmes said the gloves the man was wearing automatically made her suspicious. "It was so hot out yesterday, I was like, why is this guy wearing gloves?" she said. While the crime occurred within the jurisdiction of University Police, city police officers responded to the call. But the incident will probably be handed over to Penn Police, Danks said. For now, the Philadelphia Police Department's "Southwest Detectives have the videotapes [of the incident] and are trying to figure out who this guy is," Danks said. "When we see the film, we'll have a better idea of what happened," Danks added. Although Wawa Food Market has its own security cameras, Penn Police surveillance cameras are also positioned at the intersection of 38th and Spruce streets. However, these cameras did not pick up enough of the incident to provide much insight into the investigation. Representatives from both Wawa Public Relations and the Southwest Detectives could not be reached for comment. This incident marks the first time the Wawa on 38th and Spruce streets has been robbed since last May.

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