Men wearing masks and bulletproof vests injure shop owner during a North Philly robbery, police said
A 47-year-old shop owner was injured in the robbery-turned-barricade incident and was reported in stable condition at Temple University Hospital, police said.
A store owner was injured after three men in masks and bulletproof vests robbed the business, police said, in Philadelphia’s El Bloque de Oro neighborhood, considered the center of the city’s Latino community.
Officers responded to a robbery in progress just after 11:20 p.m. Saturday at Philly Stop Shop on the 2900 block of North Fifth Street, as three men with masks and bulletproof vests were leaving the scene, police said.
One of the suspects ran from the store with officers in pursuit, police said. The other two reentered the business.
What happened after that is unclear, but by 11:50 p.m. police had declared a barricade at Fifth and Cambria Streets. At 2 a.m. Sunday, SWAT officers had cleared the property without making any arrests, but a gun was recovered along with a Mitsubishi believed to belong to one of the suspects, police said.
The store owner, 47, was injured and transported to Temple University Hospital, where he was reported in stable condition, police said. A 37-year-old woman reportedly was inside the store at the time of the robbery but was not reported injured.
The investigation is ongoing, and police urge anyone with information to call 215-686-3243 or submit an anonymous tip at 215-686-8477.