Crime & Safety

Robber Points Rifle at Pajaro Food Center Cashiers

A Patch reader sent in these photos of Watsonville police officers stopping robbery suspects, but they were not linked to the gunpoint heist.

A man armed with a rifle used the gun to rob Pajaro Food Center on Tuesday evening, the Monterey County Sheriff's Office reported.

Despite Watsonville police detaining several suspected robbers, no arrests had been made early Wednesday.

The robbery happened around 5:40 p.m. Tuesday when a car pulled up at the grocery store, at 307 Salinas Rd., and a man got out. He entered the busy market, pointed a rifle at the cashiers and demanded money, according to deputies. (Watsonville police reported he was armed with a shotgun.)

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Cashiers turned over money and the robber fled in the waiting car, which drove into Watsonville.

Watsonville police pulled over several cars that matched the description of the getaway car. One was stopped in front of the AAA office on South Green Valley Road, according to Patch reader Alfredo Torres, who sent in photos of the incident.

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However investigation ruled the stopped vehicles were not involved, according to deputies. Detectives ask that anyone with information about this robbery call the Monterey County Sheriff's Office Investigations Bureau at 755-3772 or the Anonymous Tip Line at 888-833-4847.


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