ELLSWORTH, Maine — Police here are on the hunt for a man who robbed a local pharmacy and threatened to “shoot the place up” if he wasn’t given the drugs he demanded.
The man entered the High Street Walgreens around 8:15 a.m., according to a statement from the Ellsworth Police Department. He walked to the pharmacy and handed an employee a note demanding the store’s complete supply of a certain prescription drug. He also told the worker that he’d “shoot the place up” if he didn’t get it.
The robber was given about $78 worth of the drug, said Lt. Harold Page in an interview. “That’s the store cost, though,” Page said. “God knows what the retail value is.”
Police would not disclose the kind of drug stolen, saying it may be a key piece of information in the investigation. They also said that though the robber threatened gun violence, there is no indication that he was armed with a weapon.
The robber is described as a white man with pale complexion, 5 feet, 10 inches tall. He was wearing a white baseball hat, a surgical mask, black windbreaker and gray pants. He was last seen running toward the Hampton Inn.
According to Maine State Police spokesman Stephen McCausland, the Walgreens robbery on Thursday was the 35th pharmacy robbery this year. In all of 2011, there were only 28 pharmacy robberies.
Police urge anyone with information to call the department at 667-2133.
Follow Mario Moretto on Twitter at @riocarmine.