The Tyrone Kwik Fill was robbed last night shortly before 9 p.m.
A man stabbed a clerk in the hand and then fled the scene with an undetermined amount of money.
The clerk was taken to the Tyrone Hospital for treatment. Responding police secured the area around the gas station located on old Route 220 near Third Street, just past the Tyrone Borough-Snyder Township border. Tyrone Borough Police, Bellwood and state police responded to the scene.
Tyrone Police Chief Joseph Beachem said authorities were looking at a possible suspect in the case based on a description from the clerk.
“I can’t say we have a solid suspect,” Beachem told The Daily Herald this morning.
Beachem said the suspect is described as five feet, seven inches tall, weighing 130 to 140 pounds with black hair. The suspect was described as having a full beard and mustache with the facial hair having a salt and pepper color. The victim said the suspect had either missing or decayed front teeth and was wearing blue jeans and a light powdered blue shirt. Chief Beachem said the shirt could be described as “North Carolina” blue.
Beachem said a razor blade was recovered from the scene, but he wasn’t sure if it was used in the commission of the robbery. He said the blade would be tested by forensics.
Beachem said the robbery happened when the clerk exited the restroom which is located in a building separate from the store and cash register. When the clerk emerged, he encountered a man who asked for change for a $20 bill. When the clerk reached into his shirt pocket he was stabbed in the hand and dropped “store money.” The robber picked up the money and fled the scene on foot through the Bull Pen parking lot.
Beachem said there was a witness in the parking lot whom the police are relying on for certain information.
The Kwik Fill has been the scene of two other robberies in the past year. Beachem said an arrest was made in the first robbery and there are suspects in the other one.
Borough police are also working on another robbery which occurred in early February at the Community Pharmacy in the downtown area. Beachem said he is hoping to hear soon from a FBI video/photo enhancement expert about a video capture the department sent to Erie regarding the pharmacy robbery.
The victim in last night’s robbery received stitches for the hand wound and was released from Tyrone Hospital.
Beachem said the robberies can be “complicated matters” and he wanted the public to know his department is continuing to work to solve the crimes.
