Employees Injured In Armed Robbery Of Preston's Pharmacy

ARLINGTON, VA — Arlington County police are investigating an armed robbery at Preston’s Pharmacy Wednesday morning that resulted in injuries to two employees.

Around 9:15 a.m. Wednesday, Arlington County Police Department officers were dispatched to Preston’s Pharmacy on Lee Highway for the report of an armed robbery. Upon arrival, it was determined two suspects entered the business, brandished firearms and directed employees and customers to get on the ground.

The suspects then assaulted two employees and deployed pepper spray before stealing medication and an undisclosed amount of cash, according to the police department.

As the suspects were fleeing the scene, they stole a wallet dropped by a witness.

Arlington County medics transported a store manager to an area hospital for treatment of injuries. Additional victims were treated on scene for exposure to pepper spray.

The suspects entered through the front door of the pharmacy, and one of them immediately pointed a gun at the side of the head of the employee working at the front counter. The suspect then led the employee to the back of the store where the pharmacy is located and asked for the manager on duty, another store manager told Patch.

When one of the suspects took the manager to a safe in the back of the store, with a gun pointed at the side of his head, the suspect told the manager to open the safe. The manager said the safe was no longer used and that he did not know how to open it. That is when the suspect pistol whipped the manager.

All of the employees who witnessed the robbery have not returned to work, the manager said.

Preston's Pharmacy, one of the few remaining independent pharmacies in Northern Virginia, has not been robbed during business hours in many years. Under previous ownership, a robbery suspect entered the pharmacy but had to flee when the owner could tell he was holding a toy gun.

"These guys on Wednesday were much more serious," the manager said.

The suspects got away with mostly generic drugs that probably had a street value of no more than $5,000, according to the manager.

On a local Facebook group, an employee of Preston's Pharmacy who was at the store at the time of the robbery also explained how the suspects pepper-sprayed the employees and pistol whipped an employee.

"Thankfully, everyone is not hurt badly, but everybody’s shaken up,” the employee said.

One of the suspects is described as a man wearing a black hoodie, black pants, black hat, blue facemask and white sneakers. The other suspect is described as a Black male, wearing a gray hoodie, black sweatpants, black hat, blue facemask, black sneakers and brown sunglasses.

The suspects fled the robbery scene in a white SUV, according to police.

There have been no other armed robberies of businesses along Lee Highway in 2021, ACPD spokeswoman Ashley Savage said in an email.

However, Arlington has been dealing with an upswing in violent crime in the Pentagon City and Crystal City areas. Also, earlier this year, Arlington reported a rise in home and vehicle thefts in the overnight hours in communities north of Interstate 66.

The police department assigned additional officers to the area of North Arlington in June and arrested a group of suspects on the first night of deployment.

Anyone with information about Wednesday's armed robbery can contact the Arlington County Police Department’s Homicide/Robbery Unit at 703-228-4180 or ACPDTipline@arlingtonva.us. Information may also be reported anonymously through the Arlington County Crime Solvers hotline at 866-411-TIPS (8477).