Police are searching for a Scranton man accused in a brazen Sunday night robbery at a Larksville convenience store.
Investigators say Nicholas Kyle Reed, 25, pulled a handgun on the clerk at the Nu Mart on State Street and then handcuffed the woman behind her back. Reed then spent nearly five minutes in the store stealing cash and cigarettes before confronting a customer at gunpoint, police said.
“We don’t see this type of thing often. It’s a rare occurrence,” said Larksville police Chief John Edwards. “Some of the people get so desperate and brazen, this is what they are willing to do.”
Reed, who remains at large, will face charges of robbery, aggravated assault, terroristic threats, unlawful restraint, theft, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, retail theft and receiving stolen property, police said.
Arrest papers say Reed’s last known address is 420 Adams Ave., Apt. 810, Scranton.
Mubasher Afzal, owner of the store, said he was watching surveillance cameras at his home Sunday when he noticed the clerk being robbed around 8:27 p.m.
“I called 911 when I saw that. I said there’s a robbery going on at my store,” Afzal said.
Afzal showed a reporter several minutes of surveillance footage today.
The robber walks into the store at 8:27 p.m. and heads to the back, where the clerk is changing a trash bag. The bandit leads the clerk to the front of the store and behind the counter, where he handcuffs her. He stuffs cash and cigarettes in a bag as a customer approaches and places a gallon of milk, apparently unaware a robbery is taking place. The man then walks around the counter and confronts the customer, demanding he get down on the ground. The customer appears to refuse, pointing to his knees, and then retreats to the back of the store. The robber then returns behind the counter to steal more cigarettes, the clerk’s cell phone and the business’ phone. At 8:31 and 48 seconds, the suspect finally bolts from the store, less than three minutes before police rush inside.
After learning the clerk’s cell phone was stolen, police immediately asked 911 to track the location of the phone using GPS.
The clerk also told police a female had entered the store prior to the robbery and was acting “suspicious.”
Shortly after the robbery, police located the woman, Katie Rose Kelly, 27, of Edwardsville, a few blocks away. She was detained by police, who later determined she was Reed's girlfriend.
Wayne Taylor, 37, a Philadelphia man suspected of being a “lookout” during the robbery, was located on the porch of Kelly’s home at 198 Jackson St., Edwardsville. Police said Taylor admitted he was the lookout and identified the suspect as Reed. He said Reed plotted to rob the store to support he and Kelly’s drug habit.
Officers called the clerk’s stolen cell phone and heard it ringing inside Kelly’s apartment. They spotted the phone blinking on a couch in the home.
Authorities then conducted a search warrant and found several packs of cigarettes, $286 in cash, and a key to the handcuffs placed on the clerk.
Taylor and Kelly were charged with robbery and theft. Taylor was jailed in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility in lieu of $50,000 cash bail, while Kelly was jailed on $10,000 cash bail.
Anyone with information on Reed’s whereabouts is asked to call Larksville police at 570-714-9846