By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
MELVINDALE – A robber who threatened to kill a Rite Aid pharmacist escaped with prescription pain medication valued at $900 at 3:23 p.m. July 16, mirroring a Toledo robbery two hours earlier.
The armed robber demanded the narcotic pain reliever Oxycodone and two bottles of liquid Promethazine, an antihistamine with codeine. The store, at 4016 Oakwood Blvd., captured images of the suspect on surveillance video.
The pharmacist said the medium-skinned black man wore a long-sleeved reddish-maroon shirt, dark jeans, a Detroit Tigers baseball cap and red shoes with a white print. The Toledo robber reportedly wore the same clothes. He approached the pharmacy with a cell phone in his right hand and his left hand in his pant pocket.
The man is seen on surveillance video handing the pharmacy employee a note, after which they are seen going to a locked cabinet and taking various drugs from it. He left behind the note, which was taken into evidence.
The employee said the note indicated that it was a robbery, and not to engage any alarms or call the police, or he would kill them.
An officer and a K9 unit arrived, and tracked the suspect to the alley parallel to Allen Road, where the track ended near Wood Street. A nearby resident said he saw a red truck parked in the alley earlier. The resident said when it left, it turned on Oakwood toward I-94.
(Sue Suchyta can be reached at [email protected].)