Police are looking for a man who robbed Collectors Corner in Baltimore.
Surveillance video clearly shows the suspect walking around the store on North Charles Street posing as a customer.
He claimed that he was looking for a gift, but he didn't want to spend more than $50.
In a store filled with comic book superheroes, when the robber produced a handgun, the employee pushed him out the front door.
"No atheists in foxholes I guess,” said Bryan Levy, one of the victim’s co-workers, “He just... adrenaline surged and he went with it. He put himself out there in a way that a lot of people wouldn't."
While the suspect left empty-handed in this instance, Det. Christopher Hiester of the Citywide Robbery Unit says he has more than made up for it in the days that followed.
"The first incident was on Sept. 9. Then there was a lull of about three weeks,” said Hiester, “He picked back up again on Sept. 28. Between the dates of Sept. 28 and Oct. 4, he's done seven more. So, yes, the frequency has definitely been on the uptick."
With one exception, all of the robberies have come in the Charles and St. Paul streets corridor, and whether he appears to be shopping, ordering food or even asking to use a telephone, it's only an act to get his victims to let their guard down.
"Afterwards then he'll produce a handgun. Sometimes he just acts as if he's got it in his coat or his pocket. Other times he has pulled it out and it fully on display and pointed right at the victim and he announces the robbery," said Hiester.
Whether the suspect has made off with the money or has been turned away without a dime, police say he poses a risk to the public and much like here at Collectors Corner, he has already robbed many businesses of their sense of security.
"He is all right. He's a roll with the punches guy and he's really doing okay,” said Levy, “He's mostly concerned not that it will happen again, but just what it means that it happened."
Police say in the last few robberies, the suspect has brought in an accomplice to serve as a lookout and he's made off with the entire cash drawer.
Anyone who recognizes him is asked to call the Citywide Robbery Unit at 410-366-6341.
