SILENT WITNESS

Robber wearing white gloves hits cellphone store in Phoenix

Mar 6, 2023, 1:15 PM

This article originally appeared March 30, 2015.

Maybe the way this guy was dressed should have been the first clue.

“He was dressed much like a bad guy, wearing dark sunglasses, dark hat and dark clothes,” Phoenix Police Detective Kim Bates said.

“He was wearing white gloves, but again, gloves in Phoenix in June, that’s a clue.”

It was Wednesday, June 29, 2011, at about 2:30 p.m., when the suspect walked into the Cricket store at 35th Avenue and Van Buren Street.

He casually waited for all of the customers to leave. Then he reached into his waistband, pulled out a gun and pointed it at the store employee, demanding the money.

The employee wasn’t hurt and the robber got away.


Our next unsolved crime happened about a year later, but only a few blocks away near 31st Avenue and Van Buren Street. It was Friday, June 15, 2012, around 4 p.m.

The victim worked for a satellite TV company and was installing a dish outside of a home.

Bates said a guy pulled up in a white Dodge pickup.

“A second suspect got out and asked for information about the satellite dish that was being installed,” she said.

“When the employee turned to get a pamphlet from his truck, the first suspect approached with a handgun and demanded the tools from the vehicle.”

The man turned over the tools, and the pair took off.

Bates said the victim did exactly the right thing.

“When you have a gun in your face, you just want to do what is being asked so you can get away from the situation safely,” she said.

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Robber wearing white gloves hits cellphone store in Phoenix