NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — A terrifying armed robbery in New Haven was caught on camera.
The robbery happened on Wednesday night at West Rock One Stop Food Mart on Wilmot Road.
The cameras show three suspects walking into the store and one jumping over the counter. A customer with her kids watched in horror then quickly took off. She spoke with News 8 but did not want to show her face on camera or give her name.
“I thought they was like playing with paintball guns but they really had guns,” she said. “I didn’t know, it was my first time going through this. I was really scared.”
One of the suspects is then seen on video leading another customer to the back of the store. Minutes later, the woman was surprisingly allowed back into the store to retrieve the cell phone she had left at the counter.
The frightening experience was quite traumatic for her son.
“I just took him to the emergency room this morning,” she said. “He had to go because he had an asthma attack, he wasn’t doing really good. He’s traumatized from the situation.”
There was a camera behind the counter. It captured one of the thieves putting a gun on the counter so he could grab money from the register. Later the suspects are seen leaving, and an employee lying on the floor pushes a panic button.
The crime was certainly on the minds of customers stopping in Thursday evening.
“It’s desolate around here so it’s kind of a target,” said Qiana Jones of New Haven.
Tanysha Rivera visits the store several times a week with her kids. She was sad to hear that it had been robbed.
“We didn’t have no store, we had to walk all the way or take the bus. It was really hard,” she said. “Now I think we should appreciate that there’s something here.”
Later on Wednesday night the police came to investigate the crime. They were also captured on video.
The woman who was there at the time is still shaken.
“I was thinking about my kids,” she said. “I didn’t think it was real, but it was. At the end of the day as long as my kids are safe, I’m okay.”
The employees say they were shaken but were not hurt.
