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Uploaded: Sunday, December 30, 2012, 2:51 PM
Midtown Palo Alto liquor store robbed at gunpoint
Two men escaped with liquor, cash after eluding a police manhunt
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by Sue Dremann
Palo Alto Weekly Staff
Two men armed with handguns robbed a liquor store in Midtown Palo Alto on Saturday night, Dec. 29, and absconded with alcohol and cash, Palo Alto police said.
The robbery occurred at Century Liquors at 3163 Middlefield Road just before 7:55 p.m., when the men entered the store and demanded alcohol and cash from a clerk. One of the robbers pointed a gun at the victim, a man in his 20s, who complied with their demands.
The men placed 12 bottles of various types of alcohol –- with a total value of about $230 -- into backpacks they had brought and fled out the front door with an undisclosed amount of cash. There were no injuries, and no customers were in the store at the time, police said. The victim did not see the robbers get into a vehicle.
Officers arrived on scene within one minute and began a manhunt with the assistance of a canine unit from the Mountain View Police Department. A helicopter from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office voluntarily joined the search after monitoring the robbery on the police radio. Despite these efforts, the search was unsuccessful, police said.
The robbers are described as black men in their 20s. They were wearing black masks, black jackets, and dark pants. Both men were armed with semi-automatic handguns. One of the men was about 6 feet tall with a thin build. The other man was about 5 feet 10 inches tall, police said. Surveillance images are not available for release at this time, police added.
Detectives are actively investigating the incident. Police ask that anyone who may have information about this crime contact the department's 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent by text message or voice mail to 650-383-8984.
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Posted by Brian, a resident of the Evergreen Park neighborhood, on Dec 30, 2012 at 4:34 pm This is the second time I have seen a crime report that mentioned assistance from a Mountain View Police canine unit. Have the Palo Alto Police given up their own canine units? Did I miss that announcement? If so, that seems like an unfortunate situation.
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Posted by Hmmm, a resident of East Palo Alto, on Dec 30, 2012 at 4:40 pm Most likely the same men who robbed Tri-EZ in Menlo on ECR the other night: Web Link
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Posted by Katie, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Dec 30, 2012 at 5:57 pm Need to keep an armed security or cop in liquor stores now.
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Posted by No-Video-No-Priority, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Dec 30, 2012 at 7:47 pm No mention of surveillance video to help the police. Maybe it's time for the police to play hardball and tell merchants that if they don't have video surveillance footage, then the police will not be able to put a lot of time on their particular calls-for-service, when robberies have taken place.
> Did I miss that announcement? If so, that seems
> like an unfortunate situation.
The police do publish their budgets on a yearly basis. They have been undergoing various cost reductions for some time now. The K-9 unit was one of those items that could be shared by local police departments. If we were to actually count the number of times the K-9 units have been called out, having 7/24/365 coverage for each of the contiguous towns doesn't make a lot of sense. Sharing police resources between nearby towns makes a lot of sense.
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Posted by Sharon, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Dec 30, 2012 at 9:35 pm
Good that we know the race of the criminals and they must have left some DNA.
Their DNA is probably already in the system.
There are a number of surveillance cameras in the area which will identify the vehicle the thugs used.
Seems like any liquor store should have video surveillance, a concealed shot gun, a safe room and a way to lock the doors so the thugs cannot escape.
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Posted by Anon., a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Dec 30, 2012 at 10:41 pm It is very important to get these guys, can't have slimebags like this all over the city taking stuff ... pretty soon they'll start shooting people. Get on it PAPD!
As to putting a shotgun in the hands of a 20 year old clerk making minimum wage ... we are hearing a lot of stupid gun ideas lately, so this is par for the course.
I wish there was a good solution for this kind of thing, and of course a good solution for all the financial fraud we are seeing these days too.
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Posted by Sober Neighbor, a resident of the Palo Verde neighborhood, on Dec 31, 2012 at 7:37 am I'm surprised that there was any cash in the register to start with.
As a neighbor,I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone actually shopping in Century Liquors.
Its been a joke around the neighborhood: "they call it Century Liquors because that's the last time anyone shopped there".
More of a wine, liquor and potato chip museum than an active store.
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Posted by Anonymous, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Dec 31, 2012 at 9:06 am Obviously, Sober, you have not been there. Yes, Century Liquors has the usually beverages, but they specialize in very fine wines of all price categories, especially high end. It is a good place to go if you need a good wine for a special occasion, and the staff is knowledgeable about these things.
It is a mom and pop business.
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Posted by Sober Neighbor, a resident of the Palo Verde neighborhood, on Dec 31, 2012 at 10:16 am Anonymous
Wrong on both counts. I have shopped there...really REALLY expensive beer and wine. No deals.
The staff are early 20 somethings who really don't know squat about wine. Yes, there are some quality wines there. BUT, nothing that you could not get at Safeway or K&L for a lot less.
Since they opted out of the Lottery... the place is nearly abandoned.
To be absolutely clear, I don't condone robbing the place. AND, I appreciate Mom and Pop businesses, its just that there is little here to love.
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Posted by Cur Mudgeon, a resident of the Greenmeadow neighborhood, on Dec 31, 2012 at 11:00 am "I'm surprised that there was any cash in the register to start with.
As a neighbor,I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone actually shopping in Century Liquors.
Its been a joke around the neighborhood: "they call it Century Liquors because that's the last time anyone shopped there".
More of a wine, liquor and potato chip museum than an active store."
Stupid criminals.
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Posted by Police Dogs, a resident of the Community Center neighborhood, on Dec 31, 2012 at 11:39 am Here is the info on the PAPD Police Dogs.
One of the Police Dogs was reassigned from the night shift to the daytime Burglary Efforts for a couple months.
The second Police Dog unfortunately passed away recently. There will be a second Police Dog back on board in the next couple months with selection and traing etc.
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Posted by shopper, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Dec 31, 2012 at 12:28 pm Century is a good local source for scotch, etc. when you don't have time to get down to BevMo. Much better selection than Safeway, which itself does have a decent liquor and wine selection. Sorry to hear they got robbed, not surprised though. Glad nobody got shot.
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Posted by stretch, a resident of another community, on Dec 31, 2012 at 12:34 pm No-video-no-priority: what part of "wearing masks" do you not understand? It would be better to have a panic button to press for police and maybe noise, to scare them off, than to have video cameras for people you can't see! It doesn't make sense to say that stores w/o video cameras would not get priority from the police. Would the same go for residents whose houses are burglarized? No.
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Posted by midtowner, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Dec 31, 2012 at 1:51 pm Sober Neighbor is SO wrong - Century is a great store, has one of the best selections of wines and spirits to be found in the area - and is an asset to the community. If asked for recommendations in wines, the clerks usually are quite helpful - but the main attraction is the varied choice. We and our neighbors have shopped there for many years, and are sorry that the store was robbed. Surveillance video and panic buttons may soon be the rule, however, given the recent rise in crime in Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Mountain View.
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Posted by YSK, a resident of the Community Center neighborhood, on Dec 31, 2012 at 3:25 pm Disgusting. Really, really disgusting. I really am starting to loathe people. I agree that video, inside and out, should be mandatory. When the garbage who took my purse tried my card at the Shell station by JJ&F used my card, video would have been very helpful. Instead, we got the usual response "It's not working."
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Posted by Anonymous, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jan 1, 2013 at 10:22 am I am working on a sommelier certification and I have shopped at Century because I did not have time to go to K&L, my preferred choice. The young man at the register knew quite a lot about the Spanish wine I had chosen, so he must have had some education in enology. That wine was definitely not available at Safeway!
Sober, you know not what you speak of!
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Posted by prius, a resident of the Green Acres neighborhood, on Jan 1, 2013 at 11:05 am i hope it wasnt the PRIUS that drove into 3 horses, but 2 were thoroughbreds...
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Posted by No-video-no-priority, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jan 1, 2013 at 11:35 am > No-video-no-priority: what part of "wearing masks"
> do you not understand?
Well .. even with masks, pictures would provide good estimates of height and weight. With audio, even possibly provide a basis for "voice prints". And then there is outside surveillance, which might provide car make, model, color and possibly even license tag information.
What's not to understand about video surveillance?
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Posted by Concerned, a resident of the Leland Manor/Garland Drive neighborhood, on Jan 1, 2013 at 12:35 pm Truly frightening -- especially because they had semi-automatic handguns. When will this country learn and do something?
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Posted by Nayeli, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Jan 1, 2013 at 10:31 pm @ concerned:
I think that it is time that this country TRUSTS good and decent law-abiding American citizens with their 2nd Amendment rights but also takes guns out of the hands of CRIMINALS (felons and even those who commit multiple public misdemeanors), the mentally troubled/imbalanced, non-citizens and those who cannot pass a simple gun safety test.
I don't own a gun. My husband doesn't own a gun. However, we can be trusted with safe and proper ownership and operation of one. I am sure that the same is true for the vast majority of Americans.
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Posted by Local, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Jan 4, 2013 at 7:45 am THey have video cameras and a great selection of wine -- Safeway doesn't come close.
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