Three masked men rob Riverside 7-Eleven

RIVERSIDE - Riverside police are investigating an armed robbery that took place Saturday night at 7-Eleven, 2600 Harlem S. Ave.

The robbery took place at about 8:53 p.m. Thirty minutes earlier, three men, all wearing face masks, entered the store, walked around, purchased nothing and left. When the men returned, they immediately went around the counter, told the clerk that they had a handgun and robbed the store, police said.

No handgun was ever displayed. An unknown amount of currency and cigarettes were taken during the robbery, according to police.

The men exited the store out a rear emergency exit door toward Berkeley Road and fled on foot.

There were no other patrons in the store during the robbery, and the clerk was not injured during the incident.

Riverside police, assisted by the Berwyn, Brookfield, and North Riverside police departments, set up a perimeter and a grid foot search for the offenders, but were unable to locate them.

“This is the third such incident, either armed robbery or burglary, where the offenders wore face masks,” Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel said in a statement. “The same face mask commonly used to reduce the spread of coronavirus. The clerk told the responding officers that due to the pandemic, he was not alarmed that the individuals walked in with face masks as every single customer was coming in with one. However, he did state it limited his ability to make positive identification.”