Morning grocery shoppers in Cheltenham, Pa., were shocked when they found police swarming the parking lot of their local H Mart. It turns out the normally safe neighborhood was the victim of an armored truck robbery. It was the latest in a string of similar robberies.
Police report they were called to the store around 10:30 a.m. The delivery driver had been carrying a bag into the store and two men ran up behind her. One was carrying an AK-style rifle, the other a handgun.
Lt. Andy Snyder, with the Cheltenham Police Department, said, “They ordered her to turn over her weapon and then took between $700,000 and $800,000 in cash from the armored car.” No one fired a shot, and no injuries were reported.
They took the driver’s gun, jumped in a black Acura TLX, and drove west into Philadelphia. Police found the sedan abandoned in the Fairmount Park neighborhood.
“Now this is four or five incidents we’ve had… and an AK-style rifle is definitely not something that you’d want to mess with. So, the stakes are very high for everybody,” Snyder said.
Police said with this many incidents in one summer, they’re examining security footage and other clues for patterns. They did not say how much the thieves stole in previous attacks. But it is difficult to tell how much an armored truck driver is carrying, and whether they’re making a drop-off or a pick-up. So this may be the first time the thieves made off with much money — despite risking their lives in each attempt.
Let’s hope the police catch them before they are stupid enough to try again.
