Foot Locker boots robber

Two campus shoe store employees fought off a gunman who attempted to rob the store last week, beating the attacker over the head with a telephone until he was stunned and bleeding. West Philadelphia resident Timothy Brown, 32, entered the store at about 6 p.m. on Wednesday June 15, just prior to closing time, Canada said. Brown then asked for a pair of Nike shoes. When the manager, William Schuler, went to get a pair for him to try on, Brown announced that he was holding up the store and proceeded to pull out a gun and a pair of handcuffs, Canada said. She added that it was later discovered that the weapon was a fake. The other employee in the store, William Codogan, was instructed to handcuff Schuler. Defying the gunman's instructions, the employees started to wrestle with Brown, Canada said. The scuffle came to an abrupt halt when one of the employees struck Brown on the head repeatedly with a nearby telephone, Canada said. She added that the Foot Locker employees located University Police Officer James Colvin outside, who then made the arrest. Schuler, who suffered minor abrasions to the face and neck in the scuffle, was later treated by a fire rescue unit, while Brown was released to Philadelphia Police after being treated for head cuts at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Schuler said he asked and was granted a transfer to a different branch of the Foot Locker chain, partially as a result of the incident. He added that he was not pleased with how he and Codogan handled the affront. "It showed incredible stupidity on our part to wrestle with [Brown]," he said. He refused to comment further on the robbery or on his transfer. A security guard has since been hired to monitor the store during all working hours, said store Manager Steve Dandridge. Dandrige added that the security guard was hired as a direct result of the attempted robbery, but added that this hiring was not unusual since many Center City stores also have permanent security guards. In unrelated incidents, there were two fires reported this week, both were on June 15. In the first fire, an abandoned house on the 4600 block of Sansom Street was engulfed in flames. Universtity Police Officer James Jensen evacuated two neighboring houses, rescuing four adults and four children from the blaze. The second fire occurred at an apartment on the 200 block of South 41st Street. University Police Officers Sal Mannino and Darryl Blair arrived at the scene of the third floor fire, citing the cause as the burning of tires in the basement of the building. There were no injuries or fatalities.

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