It was a scary moment for shoppers in two CVS pharmacies in upper Northwest D.C. when a group of shoplifters brazenly emptied shelves before leaving in a stolen car on Sunday.
The first happened at the CVS on Connecticut Avenue, near the intersection with Nebraska Avenue. The second occurred approximately 20 minutes later at the drugstore on Massachusetts Avenue in the Spring Valley neighborhood.
In each case, approximately a half-dozen suspects entered the store at the same time.
At the Connecticut Avenue CVS, the suspects stole toiletries and household items from the shelves. They “ran throughout the establishment using trash bags, shopping carts and crates to strategically and systematically take goods for sale without paying,” according to a D.C. police public incident report.
In Spring Valley, the suspects grabbed several shopping carts and loaded hundreds of containers of Tide cleaner, Dove soap, Febreze spay and Downy detergent.
In each case, the suspects fled in a stolen dark gray or black Kia with D.C. tags GC 5918. At the Connecticut Avenue incident, a white Honda or Hyundai with a broken window waited for the getaway, according to the police report.
As the suspects ran from the Connecticut Avenue store, one charged at a bystander who had stopped to record the incident on his cellphone. According to the police report, the suspect “gave him a hard shove attempting to knock him down.” The witness declined treatment after EMS arrived.
Later Sunday, a CVS in nearby Montgomery County was also robbed, 7News reported. Police are investigating whether there’s any connection to the D.C. incidents.
Montgomery County police said a call went out at approximately 7:09 p.m. for a robbery on the 1200 block of East-West Highway.
According to police, a male suspect displayed a knife and demanded cash from a store employee. The suspect left with an undisclosed amount of money.
Police said the manager chased the suspect as the suspect was attempting to leave the store, and the employee received a superficial stab wound.
The suspect in the Silver Spring robbery is in custody in Montgomery County, police said.
