Penn Police are hoping to soon arrest a suspect in an alleged armed robbery at the CVS drug store, located at 3915 Walnut Street.
Around 2:00 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 4, the suspect allegedly used a semi-automatic silver handgun to coerce store employees into handing over an undetermined amount of cash from the register.
Store employees described the suspect as a 6'0" black male wearing a green jacket.
Before police could arrive on the scene, the suspect reportedly proceeded to flee on foot east on Walnut Street and north on 39th Street.
Detectives are currently reviewing surveillance video from the area in an attempt to gain more information about the reported holdup.
According to College sophomore Jessica Fisher, who witnessed the robbery, confusion abounded during the incident as customers were asked by store employees to drop their items and evacuate the store.
Employees ushered customers out and locked the doors to the store.
"The store was practically empty," Fisher said. "I think people were more confused than anything about why we were being herded out."
Though police statistics show armed robbery on Penn's campus has been decreasing over the past five years, there were several reported incidents last semester.
On Sunday, Nov. 4, a male University student was also allegedly robbed at gunpoint on 41st Street between Locust and Spruce streets.
And on Oct. 8, a Houston Market employee was allegedly robbed at gunpoint by two unidentified men. The two suspects were able to flee the building with $8,000 in cash.
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