Gunman
sought
after
robbery
By CARL E. HARTDEGEN
Staff Writer
WESTFIELD – A gun wielding robber who invaded an apartment at a Unions Street complex is being sought by city police after he fled with a small amount of prescription drugs stolen from a Powder Mill Village resident Thursday evening.
City police said that a caller at 8:24 p.m. reported that a man who came to the door of an apartment where she was visiting and menaced her with a pistol, while demanding drugs.
Officers Michael Gibbons and Michael Csekovsky arrived minutes after the call was received and were soon joined by officer David Racicot and the community policing officer for the neighborhood, Brian Freeman.
Freeman reports that the caller told the officers that she heard a knock on the door and opened it to find a man wearing a red knitted mask who produced a black pistol which he pointed at her head.
The woman said that the man demanded Percocet (a prescription pain reliever derived from an opiate and frequently abused) and ordered her to get down on the floor.
She told the officers that she initially thought the intruder was joking and did not obey his command until the male resident advised her to get on her knees.
The resident told the investigating detectives that the man then pointed his gun at him and demanded the drug.
The victim told the detectives that he surrendered sinus medication that he had on his desk and the intruder fled after grabbing a small amount of cash and two telephones which had also been on the desk.
The suspect reportedly demanded that the woman surrender her cell phone but she told him she did not have one and, after the man fled, she used her phone to call police.
The woman described the suspect as a white male in his late teens or early twenties, perhaps with blond hair, who was wearing faded blue jeans and a gray hooded sweatshirt in addition to the red knitted mask.
Police canvassed the complex thoroughly and were told by a resident that he had seen a man in the area earlier who fit the description of the intruder. However, the witness said that he had not had a good view of the unknown man’s face.
Carl E. Hartdegen can be reached at [email protected]
