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Liquor store robbed at gunpoint

Staff
Wednesday August 23, 2000

A masked man pulled a knife on the owners of U.S. Liquors at 2997 Sacramento Street around 4 p.m. Sunday and robbed the store while the husband had the couple’s infant son in his arms, police said. 

Berkeley Police Capt. Bobby Miller said that the owners, Bao Truong and Be Nguyn Truong, were behind the counter when a masked black man, estimated to be around 30 years-old, about 6 foot 170 lbs., wearing black jeans and a camoflauge jacket, suddenly jumped over the counter and shoved the wife into a corner. 

Bao Trung, who was out of view playing with the couple’s infant son, said he saw the suspect pull a five-inch knife, and he yelled at his wife to give him all the money in the register. 

The suspect then walked over to Truong brandishing the knife and grabbed him by the throat and forced him to lay face down on the ground, Truong said. Truong said he still had his son in his arms. 

Nguyn Truong subsequently opened the register and the suspect cleaned it out, Truong said.  

Bao Truong said no one was injured. He said that he thinks the suspect has been in the store before, but couldn’t make him out because of the suspect’s black mask. 

The suspect then fled East on Ashby Avenue. Miller said he had not been caught by press time. 

 

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A man was robbed at gunpoint at his residence on the 1700 block of Woolsey Street after two young men followed him from downtown, said Capt. Bobby Miller of the Berkeley Police. 

The victim said he first saw the suspects at Bancroft Way and Fulton Street, and then saw them again at the downtown BART station.  

Miller said the man didn’t think anything of it, and rode BART to the Ashby station and began walking home down Woolsey Street. 

He then encountered the same young men on the street, and said they followed him to his residence where they pulled a handgun and demanded money. 

Miller said the man gave them his wallet and the suspects fled on foot. 

One of the suspects is described as a black male, around 20-years-old, 5 ft 11 in., about 180 lbs wearing a red hooded sweatshirt with black lettering, and dark pants. 

The other is described as a black male around 16 or 17-years-old, around 5 ft. 7 in., 140 lbs. He was wearing a dark T-shirt and dark pants.