No leads in Astro armed robbery

An employee at the gas station told police that a “light-complected” Hispanic male, wearing sunglasses, was standing near the Astro office building Wednesday morning and got the attendant’s attention as he walked by. When the attendant walked over to him, the man brandished what was reported as a large caliber handgun and demanded “the deposit bags from last night,” according to Det. Mike Martin.

Police say the attendant complied with the demands and the suspect fled with an undisclosed amount of cash. According to police, the attendant described the suspect as “Hispanic, early 20s, height approximately 5 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 10 inches, 140-150 pounds, light complexion, thin mustache, and speaking in broken English.”

The description also mentioned the suspect was wearing black pants, a black baseball cap and a green windbreaker jacket. The suspect fled behind Sheppard’s next door and ran north on foot down First Street after grabbing the money. It was unknown whether a vehicle was used in the getaway.

Martin reported that despite the multiple security cameras present at the gas station, the footage produced “no images of any use to try and identify the subject.”

The robbery bears some resemblance to an armed robbery that occurred at the business one year and one week to the date of this year’s robbery.

On Aug. 13, 2013 at approximately 10 p.m., a man dressed in black, wearing a ski mask, and described as having a Hispanic accent, approached an attendant — not the one involved in this year’s robbery, according to police — and pointed a handgun at the employee’s head, threatening to kill him if he did not hand over the “till.”

The man also fled down First Street and was not found. He was described as “small-statured” man with an estimated weight of 150 pounds and a height of 5-5 or 5-6.

Martin said there was enough similarity between the two cases that police currently are “not ruling out that it was the same guy.”

The News contacted WSCO petroleum, the parent company of Astro, but a representative for the company declined to comment on the current case. Martin reported the station stayed open after the robbery occurred.

Police ask that anyone with information on the case contact Det. Mike Martin at (541) 37-5257.