Radio Shack Held Up by Robber with Shotgun

Another robbery at the point of a sawed-off shotgun at a North Avenue business Thursday terrified two young clerks and left police with few leads.

The latest incident reported by victimized the Radio Shack store at 6407 W. North Ave., just three blocks east of the store .

According to police reports:

A 27-year-old clerk said she was near the front door of the store at about 8:25 p.m., arranging merchandise on a shelf, when a man entered the store.

She said she looked up to greet him and saw he was wearing a mask. She looked down and saw that he had a shotgun in his hand, with the barrel and action visible and the stock partly concealed up his coat sleeve.

He told her, “Come with me, you know what this is, come on, come on.” The clerk, who had been at the Wauwtosa store only a week, said she was terrified as the robber told her to “Hurry, hurry,” while holding the gun on her and directing her to the cash register.

There was one other clerk in the store, and no customers. The first clerk held a plastic store bag while the other, a 20-year-old woman, put the cash in it. After it was handed over, the robber left quickly and ran west on the sidewalk.

Police said the younger woman was still in tears when they interviewed, and both said they were frightened for their lives.

Police found fresh footprints of someone running, then shuffling, then disappearing, as if into a waiting car at the curb. Video footage later confirmed that, as a black coupe was seen approaching on the street just as the robber left, then swinging in a wide turn to pick him up.

No description of the driver could be taken from the video.

The armed robber was described as a young black male, 5-feet 6-inches tall, weighing about 150 pounds. He was wearing a black ski mask and a dark brown coat.

In the Jan. 10 robbery, a man of about the same description and carrying a short-barreled shotgun approached a manager about 9 a.m. at the KFC at 6706 W. North Ave. while she was waiting in her car in the drive-through to receive a bank deposit bag from another employee inside.

The manager drove off without the bag just as her colleague was about to hand it out to her. The would-be robber made a grab at the bag but failed to get it. An accomplice waiting at the back of the store hurled a brick through the woman's window as she drove past, slightly injuring her.