CVS employees held at gunpoint

Bloomington police are investigating the second armed robbery in two months that occurred at the CVS Pharmacy located at 2701 E. 3rd St.

Officers were dispatched to the store at about 4 a.m. on Tuesday after receiving a report that the store and pharmacy had just been robbed.

The CVS employees said three suspects entered the store. Two stopped to confront the employees near the cash registers, and one suspect went directly to the pharmacy.

The pharmacist was confronted by one suspect who was holding what was described as a dark-colored semi-automatic handgun.

The pharmacist was ordered to retrieve various drugs including OxyContin and Percocet, and he placed them in a bag.

Two employees at the front of the store were led at gunpoint to the store’s safe, where an undisclosed amount of money was removed. Money was also taken from an employee’s wallet.

The weapon used by the suspect was described as an Uzi-style firearm.

“I’m purely speculating,” said Captain Joe Qualter of the Bloomington Police Department. “I assume they want money or drugs, or they want the money they could get from selling the drugs.”

Once the drugs and money were obtained by the suspects, all employees were ordered to the ground and instructed not to get up.

“I’m sure they were frightened,” Qualter said. “Most people don’t get stared down by the barrel of a weapon.”

The suspects then fled the store and the last witness observed them running northeast toward Barnes and Noble Bookstore.

No injuries occurred during the robbery.

As to why this CVS is vulnerable to armed robberies, Qualter said, it might have to do with the store being open 24 hours.  Qualter said it is easier to commit such crimes during the late and early hours when traffic in the store isn’t as heavy.

The armed robbery that occurred at around 2:30 a.m. on March 17 and the current armed robbery show “no indication that the two events are connected,” Qualter said.
All of the suspects were described as black men in their late teens or early 20s.

The first suspect was described as having  dreadlocks or braids, wearing black pants and a black-and-white striped hooded sweatshirt and holding a black handgun.

The second suspect was described as having a large Afro, wearing a light blue button-up shirt with gray or light tan pants and using a handgun.

The third suspect was described as having dreadlocks or a hair weave, wearing black pants and a dark blue hooded sweatshirt with white lettering. He was seen holding an
Uzi-style firearm.

All of the suspects appeared to be wearing white vinyl or latex gloves.

According to the City of Bloomington Police Department’s new release, a man who walked into the store just prior to the incident, looked around and then left, is considered a “person of interest.”

Anyone with information should contact the Bloomington Police Department at 339-4477.

“We are following on the leads we received, but that being said, we encourage people to continue calling if they have any information,” Qualter said.