Surveillance Photos Released From Hwy 29 Tom Thumb Robbery

July 16, 2012

Surveillance photos have been released from an early Sunday morning armed robbery at a Highway 29 convenience store.

The Tom Thumb store at Highway 29 and Roberts Road was  robbed at gunpoint about 5:30 a.m. The suspect was described as a black male wearing a black and white checkered hoodie.

Deputies said the armed man demanded money, the clerk complied and the suspect fled the store.

There were no injuries reported.

The first Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived at the store within about two minutes. The deputies quickly established a perimeter around the store, and a K-9 was called to assist in the search for the suspect.

Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620 or Gulf Coast Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP.

Comments

43 Responses to “Surveillance Photos Released From Hwy 29 Tom Thumb Robbery”

  1. Bob hudson on July 17th, 2012 4:32 pm

    Well after reading these blogs , it is very good to know that a lot of us feel the very same way. No reason to ever steal or commit armed robbery. You do it , you will pay.

  2. jnbjack on July 17th, 2012 3:17 pm

    @Pat, what part of “Thou Shalt Not Steal” don’t you understand? The last time I checked, that is all it said. It doesn’t say anything about “Unless” you need to feed your family, or don’t have a job. This person is a crook, plain and simple and there is no excuse to pull a gun on someone and rob them, for any reason. We have been on hard times, several times, and never robbed anyone.

  3. just my opinion on July 17th, 2012 12:53 pm

    are these franchizes or are they individually operated? If this were my store, i would hire either an off duty officer or a retired police officer or prison guard to stay in my store at night with my employees…would make someone think before they pulled out a gun to rob someone.

  4. memyselfi on July 17th, 2012 9:44 am

    I agree I think this is a woman…and I think she knows about the camera system in the store..not saying she worked at this store…and I think she has experience in using a gun..just the way her stance is…and for her to get in and out of there before the cops got there in 2 minutes. Thats what I think!!!

  5. DJOdjotwin on July 17th, 2012 9:07 am

    I’m OK, I’VE WORKED FOR TOM THUMB FOR THREE YEARS AND NEVER BEEN ROBBED .THANK THE HEAVENS. THE POINT I;D LIKE TO MAKE IS I THINK CORP. COMPANIES PUTS TO MUCH TRUST IN PEOPLE .HOWEVER THERE IS KIND AND LAW ABIDING PEOPLE IN THIS NOTTY WORLD.

  6. stabler1 on July 17th, 2012 3:53 am

    where is our equal rights? Lets even the odds give all store clerks a shot gun and lets end this bull. If they know they may get blown away they may stay away… Makes sense to me! Remember in florida if your life is in danger you can take a life ! Problem solved! or was that law just to protect gangsters from gangsters?

  7. g33 on July 16th, 2012 10:22 pm

    My mom works at this store and i know everyone of the workers i dnt fall for a line of bull they need to feed there kids this is putting the workers in danger trying to make there own living the right way .. i really hope they cetch this person and stop them from doing it again. just glad donald is ok .

  8. rivergirl on July 16th, 2012 10:16 pm

    @Candy The robber does have the appearance of a women. These days, it’s hard to tell. Let’s just hope he/she doesn’t strike again.

  9. Candy on July 16th, 2012 8:39 pm

    This looks like how a women hold a gun. I wonder if he was sure it was a guy?

  10. billw on July 16th, 2012 8:11 pm

    pcolamomof4 , Thank you for your response. May the Lord bless you for making an old mans day.

  11. rivergirl on July 16th, 2012 6:37 pm

    MIKE O-@jsl was commenting on a comment made earlier when this story first broke. Someone made a comment that this coward could have robbed this store to feed his family.{which we all know sounds crazy}.

  12. M.H. on July 16th, 2012 6:27 pm

    I stop in this store every morning before work. The employees are friendly and most of them including the man in the video have worked there for a while. I’m pretty sure they’re not getting rich. What they are doing is making an honest living only to be subjected to someone who isn’t interested in working threatening their life. I don’t buy that it is Obama’s fault or some hard luck story about feeding kids. The fact that some people want to make it about that might just be the saddest thing about this story. Glad your ok Donald and anybody else that might have been working at the time.

  13. MIKE O. on July 16th, 2012 4:44 pm

    @ jsl

    WHERE DID IT SAY THIS PERSON WAS ROBBING TO PUT FOOD ON THE TABLE? OR THAT IT HAS A FAMILY ITS PROVIDING FOR? FOR ALL WE KNOW, IT WAS ROBBING TO GET THE NEW AIR JORDANS. OR TO BUY ANOTHER HOODIE, SEEING AS HOW PEOPLE WILL RECOGNISE THE ONE ITS WEARING. EITHER WAY, IT WOULDNT MAKE THEM A COPOUT. IT WOULD MAKE THEM AN IDIOTAND A COWARD. AND HOPEFULLY THE LAW CATCHES UP TO HIM BEFORE HE PULLS THAT LITTLE PISTOL ON A LAW ABIDING, GUN TOTING, GOOD CITIZEN OF ESCAMBIA COUNTY.

  14. are you kidding me on July 16th, 2012 4:02 pm

    Stupid question… By the looks of this disguise how could he specify the robbers race? Just curious.

  15. Smarty on July 16th, 2012 3:43 pm

    the robber appears to be between 4′4″ to 6′8″ going by the surveillance cameras.

  16. jsl on July 16th, 2012 3:35 pm

    You do not have to rob stores to feed your family. You rob stores to fuel a drug addiction or some other criminal need. My Grandfather never robbed a store to feed his family during the depression. That is a total cop out. PERIOD.

  17. rivergirl on July 16th, 2012 3:12 pm

    It doesn’t look as though the surveillance camera is gonna be much help. This jerk was in a pretty good disguise. It had to be a scarey moment for the clerk. He is one lucky man. I hope they catch this awful monster!!!

  18. Ben Thar on July 16th, 2012 3:03 pm

    At least he’s holding the gun correctly.

  19. MIKE O. on July 16th, 2012 1:50 pm

    WITH GRAINY SURVEILANCE LIKE THAT, IT WOULDNT SURPRISE ME IF THEY GET ROBBED MORE OFTEN. LOOKS LIKE ANOTHER CRIME GOING TO GO UNSOLVED. DONT YOU LOVE WHEN THEY RELEASE THE PICS/VIDEOS IN THE HOPES THAT THE PUBLIC WILL RECOGNISE SOMEONE, AND CLEARLY, IN THIS CASE, BECAUSE THEY PROBABLY HAVE NO IDEA EITHER AS TO WHAT WE ARE LOOKING AT. MAYBE THE ROBBER JUST WANTED SOME SKITTLES AND A CAN ICED TEA.

  20. Bam on July 16th, 2012 1:32 pm

    Smile …. U R on candid camera.

  21. Paul Davidson on July 16th, 2012 1:15 pm

    I’m a little confused here, are we talking politics / Obama or we talking about the slime ball who held up the Tom Thumb ?? Anyway I hope they catch this dirt bag. I really don’t think these individuals are doing this to feed their famalies, I would sway more towards feeding their own needs, $$$, drugs or whatever.
    PWS

  22. Bob hudson on July 16th, 2012 8:18 am

    A trade school is a excellent way to learn how to make a living, we will always need plumbers , electricians , and people who will work with their hands. But it takes effort and drive to do these things.And currently there is a shortage of people working in these area’s. now you may have to move or travel, but it is a good way to make a living.

  23. 429SCJ on July 16th, 2012 6:29 am

    I do not see how President Obama influenced these jokers.

    Kev you can have the Tom Thumbs, I feel that trains and banks are more my style.
    I guess when the heat gets too bad I can up and move to Bolivia or Megargel.

  24. Jane on July 16th, 2012 5:33 am

    The economy in Escambia County is one of the worse economies in Florida, people go to school and then leave to get jobs. As long as this continues there will be criminals on the streets with nothing to do. So guess what they do? Drugs, drinking and robberies.

  25. Caraway bandit on July 15th, 2012 11:03 pm

    @Pat Google WIA (Work Investment Act) These programs do exist but thugs and lowlifes could care less. It doesn’t take any EFFORT or INITIATIVE to go out and STEAL what you want.

  26. Jeff on July 15th, 2012 10:30 pm

    Of course the childish must be heard from–

    But it only sounds like the noise of those who profess to like the system that we operate under until it doesn’t do what they want it to.

    Same as it ever was, and a big reason we still are chained in ignorance.

  27. kev on July 15th, 2012 8:17 pm

    I hate to say it but kinda looks like obama is behind all this, but like eric holder you cant prove it because he wont cough up the documentation. 4 more years and all of us will be holding up tom thumbs,

  28. Pcolamomof4 on July 15th, 2012 6:52 pm

    Pat, we have faced hard times and have never robbed anyone to feed our family. We have visited food banks, sold all jewelry including wedding rings, sold scrap metal, cut back on expenses and my husband has volunteered for tours of Iraq and Afghanistan (he’s a reservist). Yes, jobs are hard to get nowadays but my husband has found them. They are out there if you have a strong work ethic and are not afraid of a little hard work.

  29. bob hudson on July 15th, 2012 6:52 pm

    There is no excuse for stealing or robbing, none,Your not going to get a good job with a felony arrest any way.

  30. rivergirl on July 15th, 2012 5:47 pm

    @Pat Are you for real? How many people here lately do you hear that robs and steals to feed their families? Aah..none!!! They steal to feed their habits!!! I was raised that if you wanted or needed something, you didn’t steal, you waited till you could afford it. Don’t take up for these thieves!!!

  31. David Huie Green on July 15th, 2012 5:21 pm

    REGARDING:
    “What does President Obama have to do with someone robbing the Tom Thumb? ”

    Obviously it doesn’t directly have anything to do with President Obama unless he moonlights as an armed robber.

    In fact, President Obama has shown that a person who works to better himself within the system can rise to the highest elective office in the land. This disproves the idea that people have to rob stores to buy dope — errr, I mean to take care of their families.

    That said, he DOES have an indirect connection to this kind of thing when he talks about The Rich versus The Poor and supports the idea that The One Percent are keeping the rest of Us down and that it‘s the duty of Government to take it away from Them. If we are being oppressed by some nebulous evil oppressors, then we also have justification to fight back by taking from them what they took from us.

    As President Obama has said many times, “Words have consequences.” No, he didn’t start people thinking they could rob to take back what The Evil One Percenters stole from us by unnamed means, but anything which perpetuates that kind of thinking stands a chance of pushing some teetering on the edge to go to the wrong side.

    It’s not unlike the people who keep insisting we shouldn’t call criminal acts wrong because that would be “judgmental.” They are justifying them in the minds of others, calling conscious decisions “mistakes“.

    I assure you, if some would-be robber were to point a pistol at either of President Obama’s daughters while she was working in a Tom Thumb, our President would quite happy with the actions of the Secret Service.

    David for ending armed robbery

  32. Jeff on July 15th, 2012 5:19 pm

    Hmmmm….

    The eyewitness account from this morning is no longer on the board. It appeared that the person who posted it actually saw the alleged criminals and the getaway vehicle.

    Removed for their protection hopefully.

    Oh–and thanks to those of you who understand that this really had nothing to do with President Obama. Because he is the President of all of us and if you deny that, you are not an American or a patriot. I disagreed with the presidency of George W. Bush, but he was still my President. It is the way it works in this country. Show some respect.

  33. Responsible and Hard Working Adult on July 15th, 2012 4:30 pm

    What does President Obama have to do with someone robbing the Tom Thumb? Can we stick to the story and not make stupid assumptions? Thank you MolinoJim for your comment because some people believe that the president is to fault for everything. Oh, it rained today so it’s the president’s fault…I had a bad hair day so it’s the president’s fault. People have to take responsibility for their own actions!

  34. are you kidding me on July 15th, 2012 4:27 pm

    I doubt very seriously this person robbed the store to feed his family. This has nothing to do with Obama either.. Get a grip people. People were robbing stores, other people, buisiness’ , etc….. Way before high unemployment or Obama were in the picture. These little thugs think its fun and could care less about any family and they know the Florida judicial system is gonna pop em on the hand and say no no…don’t do it again or you will have to stand in the corner for 5min!! What a joke!! They have no consequences and they know it!

  35. SParnell on July 15th, 2012 3:38 pm

    @Pat

    the only problem I see in your logic is they’d have to sign up for the classes or programs. It’s much easier for them to thieve than have to report to a program every day. Sweetie you’re living in a dream world

  36. Richard on July 15th, 2012 3:24 pm

    Seriously, you think this guy robbed this store to feed his family?

  37. hello on July 15th, 2012 3:16 pm

    -PAT- are you saying it’s ok for someone to take my stuff because i have a job and they don’t?

  38. Pat on July 15th, 2012 3:01 pm

    I think it’s just terrible that the lack of jobs forces these young mens to a robbery to feed there familys. Maybe if there was some kind of training program for jobs, they wouldn’t turn to a criminal life. I would rather see my tax money go to that than to keep them in prison!

  39. Pat on July 15th, 2012 2:57 pm

    Maybe if there were more jobs, young men might not HAVE to rob stores to feed their family. Maybe some training programs to help them pull themselves up?

  40. molino Jim on July 15th, 2012 12:59 pm

    @ chacha: First off I’m not a big fan of Obama—but there have been some good things done during the time he has been in office. Help me understand— were there no armed robberies during the other administrations?

  41. chacha on July 15th, 2012 11:56 am

    I agree with disqusted, lazy people who don’t want to work but take the money of those who do……hey sounds like an Obama theory. Hope the cops catch this guy and put him jail for a awhile.

  42. Disgusted on July 15th, 2012 9:12 am

    Once again people who think they are special and don’t have to work for a living. Just pure laziness!! Sorriness, my Grandma would say – and not the pity kind.

    Some of us have had to have 2 part-time jobs and a full-time job at times to make ends meet. People who rob make me sick!

  43. 429SCJ on July 15th, 2012 8:24 am

    Wild Wild West. Just wait until the frequency of crimes exceeds LE’s response capability.