Customer Hurt in Armed Robbery at Gas Station

A customer sustained a cut and a bump on the left side of his head during an armed robbery Sept. 24 in which $500 was taken from Thorntons, 601 N. Harlem Ave., Forest Park police said.

Police said a man wearing latex gloves and holding a black-colored pistol walked into the station and pointed the gun in the direction of the cashier. The man's accomplice walked into the store and yelled at a customer at the fountain drink machine to get on the ground.

The gunman asked if the man at the fountain heard the orders from his accomplice and as he started to get on the ground, the accomplice, who also was wearing latex gloves and had a gun, struck the customer on the left side of the forehead, police said.

Then the gunman walked behind the counter and squatted down as he pointed the pistol at the cashier and ordered her to open the drawers and pile the money from all three cash registers — an estimated $500 — on the counter. He then placed it all into a black plastic bag, police said.

The suspects were unable to get cash from the safe because the employee told them that the safe had a 10-minute waiting period before it would open after it was started.

Impatient with having to wait, the gunman demanded she place two cartons of cigarettes into his bag, and the two ran out of the store and jumped into a waiting car, which drove south on Harlem.

The customer was taken by ambulance to Rush Oak Park Hospital for treatment, police said.