The Orange County Sheriff's Department has released video they hope will lead to the arrest of two men involved in the armed robbery of an Arco AM/PM gas station in Ladera Ranch late Monday night.
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Around 11:20 p.m. Monday, a man wielding a black handgun walked into the store at 27402 Antonio Parkway and demanded cash from two registers at the counter, as you can see in this surveillance video, although on my little laptop screen it's quite blurry:
The robber, who fled the store with an unknown amount of cash, was described as African-American, in his early 20s, with a green bandana covering his face and last seen wearing gloves, a gray shirt, PJ bottoms and a black ball cap with a Pittsburg Steelers emblem.
A second man who was outside the store at the time of the robbery is believed to have intentionally distracted a customer who just happened to be an off-duty cop, according to sheriff's Lt. Jeff Hallock, the department spokesman. Here's video of that:
The second suspect is described as African-American or Hispanic, in his late teens or early 20s and last seen wearing a black t-shirt, gray jeans and a red/yellow baseball cap that may have had the Washington Redskins emblem on it, Hallock said.
Both men ran east on foot to the rear of several adjacent businesses. They were not seen getting into or driving away in a vehicle, despite the store clerk and witness having combed the area right after the robbery, Hallock said.
Anyone with information that can help sheriff's investigators is asked to call (949) 425-1900 or (714) 647-7000. Anonymous tips may also be left with Orange County Crime Stoppers at (855) 847-6227 (855-TIP-OCCS) or via occrimestoppers.org.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.