WESTFIELD – City police are investigating an armed robbery yesterday afternoon in which a man reportedly armed with a handgun made off with cash from a Franklin Street convenience store.
Police report that a caller reported the robbery at 1:02 p.m. and Officer Michael Bradley was the first officer to arrive at J.J.s Variety store.
Bradley reports that the clerk, Gazala Bano, told him that she was working alone in the store she owns with her husband when a tall thin black man entered the store and lingered, spending 10-15 minutes in the store examining the inventory before approaching the counter to make a small purchase.
Bano said that, when she looked up after making change for him, the man was pointing a dark colored handgun at her and demanding the store’s money.
The woman said that she immediately raised her hands and stepped back from the open cash register.
The robber, who she described as a six-foot-tall thin black man with a curly beard and mustache, reached across the counter and helped himself to the register’s cash drawer.
Bano said that the robber removed the bills from the drawer and stashed the money somewhere, perhaps in the backpack he was wearing, before he threw the drawer at her. She said that the drawer did not hit her but the coins were scattered throughout the store.
The man then fled and the woman said that he turned to his left before she lost sight of him.
Seven patrol officers including the K-9 team and four detectives responded to search the area but were unable to immediately find a suspect.
