HENRICO, VA (WWBT) -
It's happened again! Another women's clothing store is robbed by a man with a gun. This time at a store in the 11,400 block of West Broad Street, in Henrico's West End. Police say all of the crimes have striking similarities. Like the others, during this most recent armed robbery, a masked man displayed a gun and demanded money.
They're back at work, shaken-up over what happened in this store hours earlier. It was around 8:50 Thursday night when the employees at Dot's Clothing Store say they were caught off guard. A man wearing a mask walked into the store -- pointed a gun at the women and demanded money.
Police say the crook later ordered the ladies to the back of store -- before taking off. The employees didn't want to talk on camera, but several of their customers had plenty to say.
"It's messed up. People shouldn't do stuff like that. It's wrong all day long," said customer Iris Byrd.
Luckily, no one was hurt -- which this customer calls divine intervention.
"God protected them because something with a gun like that - it could have been a lot more final," Donna Nelson said.
There have been several similar recent armed robberies. Earlier this week in Richmond a man with a gun stormed into the Cato's women's clothing store. There were also hold-ups at Dress Barns in Henrico and Hanover.
Charity Dinko calls this most recent armed robbery - surprising.
"Because Short Pump is a cool area and you see cops -- people always around very busy and stuff," Dinko said.
Shawn Jackson works a few doors down from Dots. He says the crime will keep him on his toes.
"This will defiantly make me more alert - I can be a person who doesn't pay much attention to my surroundings - but now I'll pay more attention," Jackson added.
Back at Dots -- there's now a security guard at the door. A measure these employees say will hopefully help prevent something like this from happening again.
Those two employees say they were minutes away from closing the store when the crook walked-in. If you have any information about that armed robbery --- please, contact Henrico police at 501-5000.
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