Robbers escape in purple PT Cruiser

Published 7:00 pm Tuesday, November 19, 2002

Oak Harbor police are looking for two suspects from a “well-planned” robbery of a Midway Boulevard grocery store early Friday morning, according to Sgt. Jerry Baker.

Two men entered Market Place Food and Drug at about 6 a.m. and one of the men demanded money from an employee. The robber implied that he had a gun in the pocket of his coat, Baker said, but no gun was actually seen.

The suspect reached around the employee and grabbed “quite a bit of money,” according to Baker. The men then fled the store, leaving in a purple PT Cruiser.

Baker said the robbers went to the upstairs office section of the store, which is where a larger amount of money was kept. “It appears to be a well-planned robbery,” he said, though the get-away car wasn’t exactly inconspicuous.

Baker said the clerk, who he described as an older woman, was “scared pretty badly” by the incident, but no one was injured. The police aren’t disclosing how much cash the robbers got away with.

Unfortunately, the store doesn’t have security cameras and “the robbers didn’t drop their wallets,” Baker said.

One of the suspects is described as a white man, 20 to 22 years old, 5-foot-8, with stocky build. He was wearing a blue jacket, blue jeans and a red Nebraska Cornhusker’s baseball cap.

The other man was a dark-skinned Asian or hispanic man with a mustache, about 5-foot-6, 170 to 180 pounds and stocky build. He was wearing a dark coat and blue baseball hat with a red band.

Anyone with any information should contact Baker or Detective Lisa Jenne at 679-5551 or 240-2818. The dispatch center can be reached at 679-9567.