Staff held at gunpoint in spate of armed robberies
Two masked men armed with a handgun entered a store on the Ballinderry Bridge Road of Coagh at about 06:50 GMT on Thursday.
They placed a gun to a man's head forcing him to open a till, before making off with cash in a car driven by a third man.
The second robbery, which was reported to police after 07:00, was at a supermarket on the Shore Road in Ballyronan when two men pointed a gun at a staff member's head before making off with cash and cigarettes.
A third armed robbery was then reported at a filling station shop in the Moor Road in Clonoe, County Tyrone, where cash was stolen.
Police said the vehicle used by the robbers, a blue Audi A6, was stolen early on Thursday morning from outside an address in Portadown.
It was found on fire at about 08:40 at Drumcree Community Centre in the town.
Police said the staff had suffered no serious injuries but were "shocked by the ordeal they experienced".
Sinn Féin assembly member Linda Dillon condemned the incidents and said staff in Clonoe were left incredibly frightened .
"It was a very, very frightening experience for the staff, they really are traumatised. I'm just glad that nobody was seriously hurt," she told BBC News NI.
"These were people were coming in early to do a day's work and they didn't deserve this.
"This shop really is the beating heart of this community in Clonoe and a lot of the staff are from the locality.
"Armed robbery is a very serious offence and I sincerely hope the people that carried out this attack are caught, because these are dangerous people. "
Dillon appealed for anybody with information about the robberies to come forward.
Glyn Roberts, chief executive of Retail NI also urged anyone with information about the "utterly disgraceful" robberies to speak to police.
"We shouldn't forget these are independent retailers that go above and beyond to serve their local community.
"Our thoughts are with the staff who have traumatised by these despicable attacks," he said.
Mr Roberts said assaults on staff, shoplifting and robberies are at "record levels.
"It is crucially important that the Department of Justice include the assault of shop staff is specified in the forthcoming Sentencing Bill," he said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNBC
10 hours ago
- CNBC
At least 30 hurt after car hits crowd outside Los Angeles club, fire department says
A car slammed into a crowd outside a Los Angeles nightclub early Saturday morning, injuring at least 30 people, before the driver was assaulted by onlookers and shot, the city's police and fire departments said. At least seven people were in critical condition and six others were seriously injured, the fire department said in an online statement. The incident, which took place outside a club called The Vermont, occurred just before 2 a.m. local time (0900 GMT), the fire and police departments said. Captain Adam VanGerpen, a fire department spokesperson, was quoted by ABC News as saying the car apparently first careened into a taco truck outside the club and then through a valet stand and into a large group of people. The Los Angeles Police Department said on X it was still investigating why the driver slammed into the crowd. Officers responding to a radio call of an assault with a deadly weapon found the driver had been shot while being assaulted by onlookers, the police said, adding that he was taken to a hospital and his condition was unknown. A man suspected of shooting the driver fled the scene on foot and possibly was armed with a silver revolver, the police said.
New York Post
2 days ago
- New York Post
Women are still fed up with subway and street harassment — and grateful for vigilantes
Subway crime is down overall, but not assaults — leaving the vulnerable in New York City dependent on, and grateful for, vigilantes and Good Samaritans alike. A recent video showing a man attempting to grab a 20-year-old woman off a Brooklyn subway platform — and her narrowly escaping thanks only to the intervention of bystanders — has renewed fears among local women. A 2024 study from the mayor's office found more than half of New Yorkers report having been harassed on the streets in the past six months. Advertisement 9 Kelly Dillon was randomly attacked and seriously injured by a stranger in Manhattan last August. Courtesy of Kelly Dillon Kelly Dillon had just gotten off work as a traffic reporter in Hudson Square around midnight one night last August when she was shoved to the ground by a stranger. Her elbow went through a spike in a sidewalk planter, and her head slammed into the pavement. A carful of teenage boys pulled over and tried to catch the attacker on foot, but he was never apprehended. 9 Dillon was attacked outside of her Hudson Square office while leaving work at midnight. Google Maps Advertisement 9 'Even just the thought of going into the city, it gives me such anxiety. It breaks my heart because I love New York City,' said Dillon, who lives in New Jersey. Courtesy of Kelly Dillon 'There was no motive that I can think of. It literally was just a random attack to inflict fear, to inflict pain,' Dillon, 41, said. Dillon, who lives in New Jersey, suffered a severe concussion and has since been diagnosed with PTSD. And she hasn't returned to the city: 'Even just the thought of going into the city, it gives me such anxiety. It breaks my heart because I love New York City.' She commuted to Manhattan for two decades and only recently felt fearful: 'In all those years, I never felt unsafe, honest to God. And looking back, it was COVID. Things just went downhill.' Advertisement 9 A recent subway-platform attack in Brooklyn was only thwarted thanks to brave bystanders. TikTok/@nicabori5 While subway crime actually dipped below pre-pandemic levels this year, subway assaults are up 68% compared to 2019. An anonymous 33-year-old woman living on the Upper West Side told me she gets 'harassed daily' to the point that it 'makes [her] not want to go outside.' 'I am pretty much always on edge when I am in New York City, especially on the subway,' the New Yorker of eight years said. Advertisement 9 Andrea Giordano was randomly assaulted in the East Village in April. Courtesy of Andrea Giordano Last month at the 103rd Street 1 train station, a stranger grabbed her rear end. 'I literally started screaming, and everybody just looked at me,' the fitness professional recalled. 'Nobody really tried to help me. 'Everyone is on their phone, everybody's in their own little world, and people are not paying attention, or we've been taught to just ignore the situation,' she said. The mayoral report found that, although verbal harassment is more common, 53% of those who were harassed in the last six months experienced physical harassment. The most common forms were following (46%), touching (38%) and exposing genitals (32%). 9 Giordano was heading to the Jackdaw bar with a group of friends when a stranger grabbed her. Robert Mecea Andrea Giordano first moved to New York City from Philadelphia three years ago and assumed there was safety in numbers. But now, she's not so sure. 'I felt safe because there were people everywhere all the time — like, lights on, stores open and cars everywhere. But the longer I've lived here, I've felt less and less safe,' the 28-year-old Murray Hill resident told The Post. She was physically attacked in April, while walking with friends to Jackdaw bar in the East Village on a Sunday afternoon. Advertisement She admits she was on her phone when a man grabbed her face and tried to yank her towards him. He stalked her for several blocks and lunged at her, but a group of her male friends crowded around to protect her. 9 One New Yorker reports being groped at the 103rd Street 1 train station last month. Google Maps Giordano, an executive assistant, has since decided to Uber more often. But the price of safety, she estimates, is an additional $100 a week. 'When I'm out with guy friends and we're ending our night, they'll be like, 'You're not taking the train?' I'm like, 'You're a man. Like, you're fine. I have to pay $40 to get home,'' she complained. Advertisement Kathryn Cross, meanwhile, has been harassed because she doesn't use her devices while on the subway. 'The main problems arise if I'm looking around and make eye contact with others,' the 26-year-old Downtown Brooklyn resident said. 'That leads to crazies engaging with me.' 9 Kathryn Cross says she is harassed on a monthly basis in New York City. Courtesy of Kathryn Cross 9 Cross reports recently being spit on by a stranger in the subway. Courtesy of Kathryn Cross Advertisement She reports monthly subway harassment and occasional racial abuse, like one time when she was called a 'c—nk' and told to 'go back to China.' Most recently, at 11 a.m. at the Borough Hall stop, a man spat on her head. The sad truth is, every woman in New York has a horror story of her own. Between the Daniel Penny prosecution becoming a precautionary tale for bystanders and the anti-police movement focusing a microscope on cops' every move, it's true that safety in numbers feels more dubious than ever. Advertisement The recent viral video from the subway platform is a glimmer of hope. But it still makes me wonder: If I were so unlucky to be in that position again, would I be lucky enough that strangers would do the same for me?
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Fire at Boston-area senior living facility kills at least nine
(Reuters) -A fire that broke out at an assisted living facility for the elderly near Boston on Sunday night killed at least nine people and injured 30 others, authorities said. About 70 people lived at the Gabriel House assisted living facility in Fall River, Massachusetts, where the fire broke out about 9:30 p.m. on Sunday (0130 GMT Monday), Jake Wark, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Fire Security, said on Monday. Wark said that about 50 firefighters responded to the incident in Fall River, about 60 miles south of Boston. The city opened a temporary shelter for surviving residents. Firefighters rescued numerous occupants of the facility, which is designed for older people to live independently with staff assistance, he said. Several residents were declared dead at the scene, while many others were transported to hospitals, and one person was in critical condition. Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey called the fire a tragedy and said the cause was being investigated. "My heart goes out to those who are waking up to the most horrific news imaginable about their loved ones this morning," she said in a statement. Fall River Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon told the media that some people were hanging from windows when firefighters arrived, the Boston Globe reported. Gabriel House opened in 1999 and has 100 units, according to state data. Dennis Etzkorn has been the sole director, president and treasurer of Gabriel Care, the corporation that runs the facility, since its founding. Efforts to reach Etzkorn for comment were unsuccessful. In 2015, he agreed to pay $950,000 to the state to settle and dismiss charges of fraud brought by the Massachusetts attorney general's office over an alleged scheme of offering kickbacks of $150 for referrals of customers to Gabriel Care who use the state's health insurance company, MassHealth, court records show.
