Clerks thwart 2 separate convenience store robberies

12/10/2012
BLADE STAFF

In two apparently unrelated robberies of Toledo Stop & Go convenience stores Sunday night, clerks dissuaded the armed suspects by asking, "Are you serious?"

The first robbery, at 5825 Jackman Rd., was reported at 10:20 p.m.

Two men went into the store -- wearing blue knit hats and blue bandanas pulled over their faces -- with one pointing a black handgun at the clerk.

"Give me the money," the armed suspect demanded, according to the clerk's account, as documented in a Toledo police report.

"Are you serious?" the clerk said, laughing, according to the report.

The suspect said he was serious, swearing at the woman.

The woman told the man she recognized him as a regular customer. The suspect pulled down his bandana and said he "brought his gun for nothing and that he was just kidding around," the report states.

The two men, and a third who was waiting outside, fled the area.

Less than an hour later, at 11:15 p.m., a man went into a Stop & Go at 3645 Upton Ave. -- covering his face with a white bandana and wearing a plain white baseball hat -- and put a "large knife" on the counter, demanding cash.

One of the two store employees there asked the suspect if he was serious, to which the man said he was.

The clerk showed the suspect her empty cash register and said there was no money.

The suspect then fled the store.

Nothing was taken in either robbery; suspects have not been named in either case.