Armed Robbers Hit South Bay Cel. Phone Shop

SOUTH BAY, CA -- Police are seeking two armed and masked men who robbed a Santa Clara County shop over the weekend.

The men entered a Palo Alto cel. phone store at closing time, forced the two employees into a back office, and stole merchandise, according to police. Neither victim was physically injured, and the suspects remain at large.

At about 7:13 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 7, the Palo Alto Police 24-hour dispatch center received a call from an employee at ClickAway Palo Alto at 2999 El Camino Real, reporting an armed robbery that had occurred about 15 minutes earlier.

The investigation revealed that just before the store closed at 7 p.m., two masked men entered the store. One armed with a handgun, and the other with a knife. They ushered the two store employees -- both men, one in his twenties and the other in his forties -- into a back office.

The suspects then collected a number of new phones from the office, stole cash from an open safe, and fled out the employee exit into the parking lot. The victims said they did not hear a suspect vehicle, and there were no customers in the store at the time of the robbery. Neither victim was physically injured. The victims called police after waiting about 10 minutes, which is what the suspects had instructed them to do.

The victims could only describe the suspects as “young” and “tall” black male adults. They were wearing gloves, hooded sweatshirts with the hoods up, and ski masks obscuring most of their faces. Still images of the two suspects from the store surveillance cameras can be seen above.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the PAPD 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voicemail to (650) 383-8984.

Tips can also be submitted anonymously through the Police Department's free mobile app, downloadable at bit.ly/PAPD-AppStore or bit.ly/PAPD-GooglePlay.

Images via Palo Alto Police