Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Crime Scene: Two Views

By Brendan Dolan

          Philadelphia, PA- A hooded thief robbed two young adults at gunpoint in front of a discount store this past Saturday. Brian Pritcher, 19, from New York, and Ashley Worrling, 18, a Philadelphia resident, were walking from a local pizzeria on their way back to Temple University for an ongoing party. Suddenly they were  stopped by a hooded robber with a revolver and demand they give him cash.
          “He was asking for directions, but I had told him that I could not help,” said Brian. “He had then told us to turn around, and that’s when we saw the gun.” The robber was demanding money. The victims gave him what they could scrounge for. “I only had two hundred dollars in my pocket at the time; I was not sure what to do, I just gave him the money,” Brian recalled.. Luckily the girl, Ashley, was not harmed during this ordeal, he added.
          The suspect quickly fled. Brian and Ashley then ran back to the campus and called the police. While stating what happened at the scene, the local discount store owner, where the robbery occurred, had witnessed the entire incident. Unfortunately, there were no other witnesses. Neither victim was able to give a clear description of the suspect, but noticed he was wearing a black puffy jacket with a hood over his head and a scarf or neck warmer covering his mouth. He was last heading south on Sixteenth Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue. The suspect has not yet been reported again and no other descriptions of him have been reported.

          Q- Can you describe the robbery, what exactly happened?
          A- I was with this girl, Ashley, at the time. On our way back to a party, a man wearing a black hoodie had asked me if I knew how to get somewhere. I had told him that I was not from this city and that I could not be able to help him. He had then told us to stop. We looked at him and noticed he had a gun pointed right at us. Ashley and I were terrified. He demanded we give him money and that he would not harm us if we did. I had made sure Ashley was standing behind me. I did not have my wallet on me at the time, but I was carrying two hundred dollars in my pocket. Distraught by what was happening, I had quickly given him the money. Thankfully he had run off and did not ask for anything else. Ashley and myself than ran back to the campus to the party.   
          Q- Did you get a good description of the suspect?
          A- Unfortunately no. He had his hood over his head and I think a scarf covering his mouth.
          Q- Was there anyone around to witness it or call 911?
           A- There was a cashier in the store we were in front of when the robbery occurred. He said he called the police during the ordeal.                               
          Q- Did you call the police as well?
           A- I called them on my phone after we got back to the campus. I didn’t call right after just in case the robber had noticed and were to come back.                   
          Q- Why did you decide to leave the party?
          A- Well I was with Ashley most of the night, she said she wanted to go for a walk and look for a quiet place to talk for a while. So I went with her and took her to get some pizza.
          Q- Did the police manage to find him?
          A- As of right now I don’t think so. Like I said I didn’t get a good look at the guy and neither did the cashier.
          Q- Why did you come down to Philadelphia? You mentioned you are not from here.
          A- Myself and my two friends, Mike and Jason, were invited down by a friend of ours to Temple University for a party to start off the new semester. We had driven down from New York City, where we are from.
          Q- Is your friend Ashley okay?   
          A- She’s okay now yeah. She was pretty shaken up when it had happened and directly after. But she is back to normal now, which is good; the more you move on, the less you forget.

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