State police are investigating the armed robbery of the South New Berlin Quickway on Wednesday night.
Troopers on Thursday released still photos from surveillance footage taken inside the store showing a hooded and masked man wielding an object that appeared to be a gun.
A store clerk who called 911 at 7:31 p.m. told troopers that a white male, approximately 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing 160 pounds, wearing a black ski mask with a grey hooded sweatshirt underneath a white-and-black checkered flannel jacket, displayed a long gun and demanded cash.
The suspect fled on foot in an unknown direction, according to a media release from troopers distributed Thursday morning.
Lt. James Barnes of Sidney state police later said investigators are working several leads.
Barnes declined to say what was taken from the store and only would say that the incident fit the definition of a robbery, which is theft by force or the threat of force.
"I wouldn't be able to speculate on what type of weapon it was," Barnes said when asked if the weapon used may have been a sawed-off rifle or shotgun. "The clerk felt it was a gun, and it appears that it is. That's really all that's necessary."
Store manager Kim Voltz said the store has never been robbed, adding that the clerk who was working Wednesday night was very rattled by the incident.
"The young man that was on was pretty scared," Voltz said.
Voltz said the robber took cash from the store, but she wouldn't say how much. The store was closed Wednesday night after the incident but re-opened Thursday morning.
Barnes said there are no known unsolved convenience store robbery cases in the area, but investigators will be looking throughout the region for similar cases.
Chenango County Sheriff Thomas Loughren also said he knew of no open robbery cases in that area, although he said there have been a few convenience store robberies.
Anyone with information is asked to call troopers at 561-7400.
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Jake Palmateer can be reached at 432-1000 or (800) 721-1000, ext. 221, or at jpalmateer@thedailystar.com.
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