A slew of unsolved gas station robberies in the region is frustrating police—and likely making attendants look over their shoulders at the pumps.
It all seems to have begun in Collingswood Nov. 11, when an attendant was shot in the leg during a robbery attempt at the Route 130 Sunoco station.
Later that night, another man was allegedly pistol-whipped in a robbery at the U.S. Gas station on Route 70 in Cherry Hill.
On Nov. 19, two robbers reportedly knocked over a Shell station on Route 73 in Maple Shade—the same day that a man attempted to do the same at a Citgo gas station on the Black Horse Pike in Blackwood.
Last Tuesday, a Brooklawn Citgo was even hit twice in the same day.
Finally, Wednesday morning, the Lukoil gas station on Crown Point Road and Red Bank Avenue in West Deptford was the site of the latest two-man robbery. Suspects allegedly made off with an unspecified amount of cash before fleeing in a silver Dodge Stratus coupe, according to West Deptford police.
Collingswood Police Chief Richard Sarlo told Patch that although his department has not made any inroads into the Nov. 11 shooting, detectives have been speaking with police in other towns in which gas stations were hit.
Unlike the rash of vehicle burglaries that has hit Collingswood, each of which Sarlo said is more likely the work of individuals, a gas station robbery is "a crime that's not an everyday crime."
"I don't have any confirmation, and we're not saying it's connected, but it seems coincidental," he said.
