BY MIKE SPRADLEY
The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) is currently looking for any information that leads to the arrest of a suspect linked to several robberies in the Hillcrest, North Park and Uptown neighborhoods.
The suspect, who was described as a black male, approximately mid-to late 40s, 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighing 220 pounds with a slender to average build and salt and pepper hair and eyebrows and a thin mustache with goatee. One merchant said the suspect exhibited “a nervous disposition.”
According to police, the suspect entered the Cathedral Candle store on University Ave., Jan. 7 at 7:20 p.m.; grabbed the sales clerk and forced her to open the cash register. He then demanded the clerk open the safe and give him all the money. When the clerk told the robber there was no safe he claimed to have a gun. The sales clerk also described the robber as smelling of alcohol.
The suspect was given all the cash in the register and made the sales clerk lie down on the ground and count to a hundred. The sales clerk was shaken, said police, but did not require medical attention.
A robbery suspect matching the description given by the Cathedral Candle sales clerk has struck multiple times in several recent robberies and attempted robberies. These include Fifth Avenue Books in July 2011; a parking attendant behind Arrivederci; Blue Stocking bookstore on Fifth Avenue in December 2011; the Shell gas station on Robinson and Sixth Avenue in January, as well as at Lady of the Lake bookstore in North Park, also this month.
The Cathedral Candle store sales clerk told San Diego LGBT Weekly that she was shocked the robbery was attempted at all because there were a large number of people walking on the sidewalk just a few feet from the scene. The crime occurred on a Saturday evening around 7 p.m., when nearby restaurants and bars are busiest.
Anyone with information about the crime or the suspect is encouraged to contact the SDPD at 619-531-2000 or dial 911 if they see the suspect in the neighborhood.
All the businessess this person robs have only one person working. Small businessess need to be alert and smart about their set-up, who’s walking in and keep that phone handy. We are pleased the police are working hard on this case.