What started as an apparent innocent attempt to buy cigarettes ended with police searching for a would-be robber who investigators say tried to empty the register at a local Wawa store.
Philadelphia Police released surveillance video Tuesday that shows a man wearing a green hoodie and black coat entering the Wawa store located at 6400 Torresdale Ave. in the Tacony section of Northeast Philadelphia in the early hours of Jan. 8.
According to police the man asked the employee behind the counter for a pack of cigarettes. As the two talked the suspect said “give me all the money in the register.”
The employee never opened the register during the short exchange. You see the man look around and leave the store after he was scared off by a customer entering the store.
He wound up making off with nothing and never threatened the employee, according to investigators.
You then see the suspect -- believed to be a thin man in his early 30s standing about 6-foot-2inches tall -- quickly leave the store and run off northbound on Torresdale Avenue.
This is one of a recent string of hold-ups and attempted thefts at Wawas in the area of Northeast Philly. A reward has been offered for information leading to a masked man believed responsible for some of those heists.
Anyone with information or who recognizes the suspect is asked to contact Philly Police.
Photo Credit: Surveillance Image