TORONTO – Police in California are on the hunt for a suspect after a man robbed a convenience store on Saturday.
But it’s not just what he took, it’s how he took it: by threatening the store clerk with a lit blow torch.
Security camera footage captures the bizarre and shocking moment a man dressed in black entered the Gardenia Market and Deli in La Crescenta around 10:15 p.m. Saturday, said Glendale Police spokeswoman Tahnee Lightfoot.
First, he simply bought a cup of coffee and left. But fifteen minutes later he was back, wearing a black trench coat and armed with a blow torch.
Yes, a blow torch – the sort of tool that seems almost humorously out of place in a store hold-up.
That is, until you find yourself face-to-face with a man threatening you with one.
“We encountered a few incidents here and there but nothing like this,” store owner Raymond Cherfane told KCAL9’s Brittney Hopper.
The man emerged from around the counter, lit his blowtorch, and demanded the clerk open the register. He threatened to light both the store and the employee on fire.
The clerk, who the store owner said has a wife and children, complied with the request before he hopped over the counter himself.
Glendale Police said the man made off with an undisclosed amount of cash from the register along with a bottle of “Fear Sonic” vodka from a nearby shelf.
Police were notified when the clerk triggered the store’s silent alarm, and responded a short time later.
“Thank God nothing happened to my employee,” Cherfane said. “He was safe. The way he handled it was perfect.”
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