Police seek suspect in armed robbery
A man armed with a machine gun-style weapon approaches the counter at the Burger King in Bentleyville.
The Burger King in Bentleyville
A still from security camera footage shows the armed man who entered the Bentleyville Burger King Wednesday night.
BENTLEYVILLE – A robber displayed a submachine gun, demanded money from employees and walked out of a Burger King Wednesday night with an undisclosed amount of cash, according to Bentleyville police Chief Richard Young.
The robbery happened at 9:23 p.m. as a black man dressed in a dark blue hoodie and grey cap displayed the automatic weapon to several employees and pulled a beanie cap partially over his eyes in an attempt to obscure his face.
“You can see in (several surveillance) videos the male actor walks onto the premises – there was no vehicle nearby – and you can see a female employee actually hold the door for the suspect as he enters in the dining room,” Young said.
“He then brandishes the weapon, walks in front of the register, and then has the clerk and a manager take money out of the drawer while having the gun trained on their backs,” Young said.
The dining room of the Burger King restaurant remained closed Thursday morning but reopened for lunch as police did sweeps for fingerprints and other physical evidence, Young said. Authorities wanted to make sure to collect any and all evidence. Encryptions and password protections on Burger King’s surveillance equipment also delayed the investigation Thursday.
“The employees were pretty shaken up. And we’re asking (for help from) anyone who may have been in the area near Main Street or the 100 block of Wilson Road as the suspect left on foot and was walking in between hotels and near Giant Eagle. No vehicle was reported before or after the robbery, so we’re looking for anyone who might have seen something to call us,” Young said.