WILTON MANORS, Fla. – Authorities are searching for two individuals who they say were caught on surveillance video committing an armed robbery at a smoke shop in Wilton Manors early Tuesday morning.
The incident occurred at the World of Smoke and Vape store, located at 2201 Wilton Dr.
According to Wilton Manors police, the culprits entered and exited the shop several times before one of them pulled a gun on a store employee.
“Two individuals entered the store. After they walked around for several moments, they left the store, re-entered a few times, and on the last time they entered, they held the store worker at gunpoint,” Detective Haley Plante, of the Wilton Manors Police Department, told Local 10 News on Thursday. “While one of them was doing that, the other individual ran behind the counter and started removing products.”
Surveillance video shows the armed individual pointing a gun at the employee as the second suspect, who was wearing red, grabs as many THC vapes as he could carry.
Police estimate each vape is worth around $40, with the total loss amounting to $879 in stolen merchandise, including vapes and other items.
“They both left and fled on Wilton Drive,” Plante said.
Authorities said the store employee was not physically harmed during the incident and was able to activate a panic button to alert law enforcement discreetly.
“A lot of our businesses do use those,” Plante said. “It’s a way that they can notify us without necessarily alerting the offenders that are in there, so we want to get there as quickly and promptly as possible.”
Police said the culprits remain at large.
The Wilton Manors PD is asking anyone with information about the robbery or the identities of the individuals seen in the video to call them at 954-390-2150.