Gas station robbery: Terror at knifepoint

A senior citizen has described the chilling moment a knife was put to his neck in an armed robbery at a gas station.

“They had on crash helmets and ski masks and they were dressed in black with long white gloves — straight out of the movies,” the 66-year-old gas pump attendant told us.

“They said ‘This is a robbery’. One of the guys dashed around back to the counter, to the cashier. The other guy came behind me and put a knife to the back of my head.”

The pump attendant was on duty Monday night when Raynor’s Gas Station in Southampton was robbed. 

In fact, it was his $50 bill that he had just withdrawn from the ATM that was taken.

“Just as she took my money, three masked guys came inside,” he said.

“[One] said ‘Give me the money’. I said to the cashier ‘Give the godamn man the money!’

“Then she told the guys she couldn’t open the cash register — she had to go in the back. They went with her to the back.

“I blew [out] through the door and ran around the back. I felt bad [for leaving].”

The man said he never saw the knife and later found out one of the other two men was armed with what appeared to be a gun.

He continued: “It was so quick. I stayed around back there until I heard another pump attendant call out.

“They must have ran out the shop and ran out to the back.”

The witness said the robbers didn’t seem to be older than 20.

Young robbers

“They were of slim build and about five foot four. They were very young.”

While he is upset about what happened, the man said he is thankful no one was hurt during the robbery.

Gas Station Owner Reggie Raynor said: “I’m proud of the workers, that they really stood up well against these type of odds.

“I was home sleeping but one of my workers called me on the phone. The first thing I heard, she said ‘Mr Raynor, we’re getting robbed’.

“I woke up quickly and I didn’t even put my shoes on. I came straight here.”

Mr Raynor said his employees told him the direction the robbers went, so he drove out in his van in search of them.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t [find them] but you know, when you look at it, we have to be thankful that nobody got hurt.

“I do believe we had guardian angels around our business.”

Mr Raynor said a few days ago, he was thinking about how the gas station hadn’t been robbed.

“Lo and behold, that’s when we got robbed”, he added.

As far as why the robbers only escaped with the pump attendant’s money, Mr Raynor said: “The safe isn’t accessible down here. There’s a process and she couldn’t get into the cash register.

“They tried to lift it at one point.”

Mr Raynor also suspects when the pump attendant ran out, because the robbers left moments later, they may have thought he went to pull an alarm.

He is calling for government to ban dark helmet visors. Mr Raynor said: “Why can’t the government ban the dark visors? Do we need another overseas consultant to make a decision on that or are we going to wait until one of the politicians gets assassinated?

“But such a small, trivial thing. Hopefully, after this one here, they will look to do that.” n