PITTSFIELD, Maine — Police responded to an attempted robbery Tuesday morning at the Rite Aid Pharmacy on Somerset Avenue.
Police Chief Steven Emery said a man walked into the store and handed a pharmacist a note saying he had a gun and demanding drugs.
The clerk, however, had none of it.
“She said, ‘Not today,’ and he turned around and walked out of the store,” Emery said.
The incident occurred about 11 a.m.
The would-be robber fled and Pittsfield police officers, state police troopers and Somerset County sheriff’s deputies attempted to track him with a K9, but were unsuccessful, according to Emery.
The man was wearing a yellow and blue bandana, sunglasses, camouflage pants and a light brown coat at the time of the attempted robbery, Emery said.
Tuesday’s incident marks the third in just over a month at Rite Aid stores in the area. The Rite Aid in Newport was held up on on Aug. 16 and again on Sept. 15. No arrests have been made in either of those cases.
“She said, ‘Not today,’ and he turned around and walked out of the store,” . Wonder if she also said ‘Come back next month. We’ve already had our allotted number of robberies this month.’ Seriously, does anyone else think that this nonsense with Newport Rite Aid robberies is past the point of being ridiculous?
Yup. No one seems to care. Rite Aid doesn’t care enough to upgrade security and police need to patrol more frequently.
Frankly, YES.
this was in Pittsfield not Newport.
Earlier, the article said Newport, and now it’s been changed.
Yes! Soon Rite Aid will be designated as a dealer by the MDEA.
Good for the clerk! A double tap to the robber would have perfected it
LMAO, robber….give me your oxys, pharmacis no I am not giving them to you….robber ok it was worth a try. That pharmacis should get a bonus!
They should get a smack to the back of the head. Just hand over the drugs and be done with it.
No job is worth dying for during a robbery.
Right! Sooner or later one of these robberies is going to turn ugly with someone either getting hurt or killed.
Made my day. Love this story. Wish they all ended that way.
Yes intill a robber takes out the gun and fills them full of holes along with whoever else is in the store.
Outstanding…..No soup for you!
This clerk did something that was very brave and very stupid. What if that person had whipped out a gun and started shooting. I’m sure these folks are real tired of being robbed-I get that. However-she made a decision -a very risky one that could have endangered herself, her fellow employees and customers. I’d hate to think that future Pharmacy bandits will see that notes don’t work and come to the conclusion that a gun is really needed.
Well put. My heart loves what she did! But, my head knows it’s a really bad idea.
in that case the clerk should produce their own gun and shoot the scumbag
Pharmacists should be allowed to have, fast acting, aerosol sprays that’ll put a robber to bed for about 4 hours. Hmmm? Banks to!
Do you know how many robberies and meaningless deaths still occur after the criminal gets what they want? It is a 50/50 chance nowadays, give them what they want, they could still kill you and others, don’t give them what they want, they still could do it anyways.
Please…where is the pic? Is it the same DUFUS who “did” Newport???!!
on WABI TV 5 theres A picture of the fool
Did not see the news…why can’t BDN put in this “clear” pic? These attempts, successful or not HAVE to be stopped!!! Someone’s going to get killed.
There should be an alarm button in the pill section to alert police etc so that by the time they get the drugs or fake drugs, if that’s possible, the police could get there and get the POS’s that rob these pharmacies.
There are alarm buttons under the benches :]
And now everyone knows, therefore defeating the purpose of said alarm.
Time to move the Pharmacy to the Police Station
They need to install security glass or at least those hydrolic barrier walls that close really fast at the push of a button…if that is to costly give em Crowd Control paintball guns with pepper spray ammo or at least a spring loaded giant boxing glove that’ll punch them right in the face and send em flying back out into the parking lot.
Better to have a smith & wesson
The security glass would protect the pills & pharmacist but not the customers & other employees in the store. The robbers could then start grabbing random hostages & demanding the pills. These people are desperate. Maybe metal detectors at the entrance to set off alarm if they try to enter store with a weapon?
Said metal detector would go off often as as lots of people carry and wear common items made out of metal.
Spend much time playing video games, perhaps?
what no picture??
We just need to legalize and tax! That will stop this silly crime wave. Oh, wait….never mind.
It’s only a matter of time when the victim becomes the shooter. One of these druggies may soon wind up dead. I’d like to see the major drug companies train their employees to carry weapons.
A solution could be that there is no access into the pharmacy from inside the store u can shop in the pharmacy for everything but ur prescriptions and all prescriptions could be picked up thru drive thru only. And u have an outside access door to enter the small pharmacy area..sorta like an atm but on larger scale of course …
how do people without cars get prescriptions? Im assuming the outside access door is for employees.
oops good point..lol…maybe we could have a walk up window? I guess what I am saying is we need to have prescription drugs in place where you have no access to the employees they are behind protective glass and nobody comes in the building. sad to say but reality is someone is going to get killed.
So now it’s “show me the gun” instead of “show me your ID”?? LMAO Potential robbers beware…..this is one pharmacist who will call your bluff!
Two scenarios I would like to see played out: 1) Have fake drugs ready with tracking devices 2) Build a fake pharmacy and put a nice big RITE AID sign on it. Then start arresting them one by one as they come in. Have Chris Hansen from Dateline play the pharmacist!
Good for her. Its time people start standing up to bullies and quit taking their shyte. Its a shame that RiteAid will probably fire her for “poor customer service”
I couldnt believe this when I saw it yesterday! LMAO to the pharmacist but that was a very risky move! She could of ended up dead and others too though. So wish I could of seen this first hand! Now hope she doesnt get fired I have seen that happen before because it is against some stores policy some just want you to do what they say no matter what but I sure as hell hope they keep her :)
I’m sure we haven’t heard the end of this story, but I have to admire the pharmacist’s decision, albeit a risky one. The robber’s photo is pretty good quality, so we may see an arrest pretty soon.
Why can’t the pharmacy have bottles of sugar pills set aside so when they do get robbed, they are not giving out the bad drugs??
Fast acting explosive diarrhea pills. That way the K-9’s will have no trouble following their scent.
“She said, ‘Not today,’ and he turned around and walked out of the store,” Emery said.
Dear Management: This is a fine example of why I deserve a raise, if you can not invest money in a security system, then invest that in giving me my raise I deserve, next time I will even wrestle the robber to the ground and drag them to the police station myself by their toe nails. On the other hand you could consider this my resignation notice as my talent could be used in pharmacies that have…better security and make their employees feel safe.
Respectfully submitted,
Not Today
Well that’s a pharmacist that will be unemployed soon.
Years ago, my Mom worked a a donut shop and a man came in and told her to give him all the cash in the register. When he came behind the counter she dropped the money on the floor. As the thief bent over to grab the cash she pulled the big, heavy register onto his head rendering him unconscious. Police arrived and ripped into her for doing such a foolish thing. Now the rest of the story…
She had to get a lawyer when the man sued my Mom and the donut shop for causing ‘permanent bodily harm’ to the perp.
The judge eventually threw it out and the arresting officer told my mother if she was to do that again, be sure to kill the fool.
Not worth losing one’s life for.