http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA120705.05B.return_robber.12a94881.html
Brazen shoe store bandit with hurt finger hunted
Web Posted: 12/07/2005 12:00 AM CST
Brian Chasnoff
Express-News Staff Writer
Six hours before he would return with a gun and a demand for money, the robber of a West Side shoe store made no attempt to remain inconspicuous Tuesday night, police said.
Nervously pacing inside a Payless Shoe Source in the 900 block of South Gen. McMullen at about 3 p.m., a man in his 20s injured his finger in the front doors before asking an employee what time the store closed, police said.
She told him 9 p.m. He told her he'd be back. Before leaving, the man assured employees he was not there to rob the place.
A few minutes before 9 p.m., the man returned to rob the place, police said.
Not surprised to see him again, an employee quickly phoned the security guard of a nearby mall.
When the security guard entered the store, he did not have his weapon drawn, police said. The robber ordered him to the ground, and he complied.
Along with $70 from the cash register, the man made off with the security guard's chrome-plated 9 mm automatic gun, police said.
The man then fled east on Castroville Road in a getaway car driven by another man. A few minutes later, the car pulled up to another Payless Shoe Source in the 4900 block of West Commerce.
But before the armed man could enter the store, an employee locked the front doors — tipped off by a phone call from a relative who worked at the just-robbed shoe store, police said.
Police on Tuesday night were looking for the men, one of whom bears a conspicuous sign — a jammed finger.
Brazen shoe store bandit with hurt finger hunted
Web Posted: 12/07/2005 12:00 AM CST
Brian Chasnoff
Express-News Staff Writer
Six hours before he would return with a gun and a demand for money, the robber of a West Side shoe store made no attempt to remain inconspicuous Tuesday night, police said.
Nervously pacing inside a Payless Shoe Source in the 900 block of South Gen. McMullen at about 3 p.m., a man in his 20s injured his finger in the front doors before asking an employee what time the store closed, police said.
She told him 9 p.m. He told her he'd be back. Before leaving, the man assured employees he was not there to rob the place.
A few minutes before 9 p.m., the man returned to rob the place, police said.
Not surprised to see him again, an employee quickly phoned the security guard of a nearby mall.
When the security guard entered the store, he did not have his weapon drawn, police said. The robber ordered him to the ground, and he complied.
Along with $70 from the cash register, the man made off with the security guard's chrome-plated 9 mm automatic gun, police said.
The man then fled east on Castroville Road in a getaway car driven by another man. A few minutes later, the car pulled up to another Payless Shoe Source in the 4900 block of West Commerce.
But before the armed man could enter the store, an employee locked the front doors — tipped off by a phone call from a relative who worked at the just-robbed shoe store, police said.
Police on Tuesday night were looking for the men, one of whom bears a conspicuous sign — a jammed finger.
