North Springfield gas station robbed

A gunman held up an Irving gas station and convenience store Wednesday night, the latest in a string of robberies at the remote store.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150320/THISJUSTIN/703209917

North Springfield gas station robbed again By Susan Smallheer Staff Writer | March 20,2015 Email Article Print Article NORTH SPRINGFIELD – A gunman held up an Irving gas station and convenience store Wednesday night, the latest in a string of robberies at the remote store. Springfield Police Chief Douglas Johnston said late Thursday afternoon that no arrest has been made in the robbery. Police have two images of the robber taken from the store’s surveillance cameras, he said. The photos, which are quite blurry, show a stocky man wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt threatening the clerk with a gun. Police said the man was masked and wearing gloves. He made off with an undisclosed amount of cash. Police said the man was 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with dark eyes and a deep voice. The sweatshirt had a red printed design on the front and back. Johnston said the gas station and store, at the corner of Maple and River streets in North Springfield, was probably the site of as many as five robberies within the past several years. He said the store had been a target even before it was acquired by Irving Oil. “I bet you if we go back and do some history, you’ll see every couple of years, there’s been a robbery, usually in the fall,” he said. “You can’t really blame Irving,” said Johnston, who remarked that before the station was owned and operated by Irving, it was a Mobil station. He said the remoteness, and the fact that the robbers appear to run down Maple Street and have a getaway car waiting there out of sight, were major factors. Irving Oil spokeswoman Samantha Robinson, based at the company’s headquarters in New Brunswick, did not return a call for comment on the company’s safety measures and protection of its employees. Johnston said that when Rite Aid Pharmacy, in the Springfield Shopping Plaza, was hit by a number of robberies a couple of years ago, the police department made a lot of recommendations to the store to improve security. Rite Aid adopted some of the suggestions, he said. The chief said North Springfield gas station robberies typically happen in the fall, so Wednesday night’s robbery was different. “It’s a different time of year,” he said. Anyone with information is encouraged to call Springfield Police Department at 885-2113.