Two attempt gunpoint robbery

Two men attempted to rob a local restaurant employee at gunpoint Monday and several other local stores and restaurants reported crimes ranging from trespassing to burglary. Two men wearing Halloween masks attempted to rob an employee at gunpoint at the Saladalley restaurant at 4040 Irving Street Monday night. The gun turned out to be a starter pistol, which police recovered nearby. The two men escaped. Police describe both suspects as black males with box haircuts, weighing about 155 pounds and wearing baggy jeans and white sneakers. Last Thursday morning, police caught a suspect who allegedly broke into a house at 3815 Walnut Street though a rear basement window. He was later identified on the 4000 block of Walnut Street and arrested for burglary. No property was missing from the house, but police said the suspect had items stolen from the Burger King restaurant near the arrest site. Burger King has declined to prosecute the case, police added. The Wawa convenience store at 36th and Chestnut will prosecute a man who was arrested for retail theft at the store Friday. The man was allegedly caught shoplifting several bars of soap and a can of tuna fish. In a separate incident, a women was arrested Sunday at 3:30 p.m. and charged with retail theft, after police spotted four sweatshirts and two pairs of jeans in a car parked on the 3400 block of Walnut Street. The woman allegedly stole the sweatshirts from University Sportswear at 3736 Spruce Street. Another man was arrested for burglary after a resident of the Sigma Nu fraternity house at 3819 Walnut spotted him walking out of the house with a chair. The suspect also had an outstanding warrant for defiant trespassing elsewhere, police said. A burglar tampered with the safe in the business offices of WXPN radio over the weekend. The suspect did not succeed in opening the safe, but stole a radio and a pair of sneakers from the offices and is still at large. Just after noon last Wednesday, police arrested a man who was wandering around private offices in Van Pelt Library. He was charged with trespassing and later released. Police recovered a stolen auto Tuesday afternoon on the 3700 block of Chestnut. The blue 1985 Oldsmobile, with temporary Pennsylvania license tags, was left unattended. Police received several unrelated reports of items stolen from automobiles this week. Last Thursday, the owner of a pickup truck parked on the 100 block of South 34th Street reported that a thief broke into the truck and took clothes, shoes, a makeup bag and other items valued at about $400. In an unrelated incident, a suspect, described as a black male last seen wearing an orange shirt and blue jeans, broke into a car on the 3800 block of Sansom last Thursday and took a burgandy-colored portfolio worth about $50. On Monday, the owner of a 1990 Volkswagon reported that the car was broken into while parked on the 3600 block of Spruce Street.

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