Would-be robber uses coffee machine to escape West Oak Lane convenience store [Video]

In what’s become an all-to-familiar call for help, Philadelphia police released video on Monday of a robbery at the 7-Eleven convenience store located at 7720 Ogontz Ave.

The latest case, which like five others reported in the past 20 months, was captured by surveillance cameras.

The footage shows an unknown man entering the store around 3:15 a.m. on New Year’s Eve. From there, he “walked behind the counter and punches the employee several times attempting to take money from the cash register,” according to police.

He was unsuccessful in doing so, said investigators, adding that the would-be robber then attemped to leave through a locked door.

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As he could not penetrate said lock, “the offender then takes a coffee machine and smashes the door glass.”

He then ran off in an unknown direction, said police who described the suspect as a black man in his early twenties, who was wearing a dark-grey hooded jacket, grey hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, black sneakers and a dark mask covering the lower portion of his face.

Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call 911, the Northwest Detective Division at (215) 686-3353/54 or the tipsline at (215) 686-8477 (TIPS). Tips can also be texted to PPD TIP (773847) or submitted via the department’s website.

The back story

Though no weapon was brandished in this case, armed robbers have targeted this location with shocking regularity, leaving little more than a trail of surveillance footage in their wakes.

Three such cases were reported between April 21 and May 14, 2011.

On Nov. 29, 2012 another pair of armed robbers went to the same store, making off with cash and cigarettes.

Less than two weeks later, an unknown gunman entered the store and approached an employee at the counter “pointing the handgun at him demanding he open the cash register.”

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