An armed robbery of a Hobbs convenience store reportedly escalated into a shootout late Dec. 15. No suspects have been identified and no injuries were reported.
According to a Hobbs Police Department incident report, a suspect pointed a gun at two clerks at 1:30 a.m. on a Saturday night demanding the store’s employees open the cash drawer of the convenience store in the 300 block of North Marland Boulevard. The suspect took the cash storage drawer out of the register and left.
“The suspect grabbed the entire till out of the drawer and then exited the store headed southbound,” an HPD officer wrote.
After that, an unknown man exited the bathroom of the store and ran toward the front door shouting at the suspect. The two parties then shot at each other multiple times before the robbery suspect left in a car and the other unknown man got in his car and left.
Police interviewed a customer who witnessed the series of events. The customer told police that before he entered the store, the robbery suspect approached him in the parking lot and showed him a gun.
The robbery suspect told the customer not to enter the store because he was going to rob it, but the customer thought it was a joke.
“He brushed off the statement as a joke or a bragging statement and entered the store,” an officer wrote. “…not long after, the male entered the store and committed the robbery with him inside the store.”
Police didn’t determine how much money was stolen, but the store manager told officers he would conduct a cash audit to determine the amount of money stolen from the register.
Police found a pistol on scene at the storefront. No suspects were identified at the time police wrote their reports.
