Video 2: Robbery at Metro PCS

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  Patrick Van Horne

  October 10, 2011 Reply

  Background
  On August 9, 2011, at 3:20pm two unknown males entered the Metro PCS store located at 3154 North Broad Street. The first suspect demanded the money from the register and the second suspect showed the employee a black handgun in his waist area. The employee opened the register and gave the suspects $850 in cash. Both Suspects fled the store on foot westbound on Allegheny Avenue

  1. The Two Men Are In The Store – Before Robbery
  A. The Metro PCS store is a habitual area, meaning anyone can come or go as they please, but there is the expectation by the company that you come to the store to either buy or at least look at their products

  B. The men immediately can be identified as an anomaly because they don’t appear to be interested in buying anything or in the store for any reason.
  B.i. The kinesic indicators show the men with their feet pointing back towards the parking lot, with their backs to the counter where all of the cell phones are cased.
  B.ii. The cell phones SHOULD be a proxemic pull to customers as that is the reason most people go to a cell phone store, but these two have only given a cursory look at the phones since they are not there to buy anything.

  C. Threat Indicators: The man with the white shirt has his right arm pinned down just in front of his body to cover up the gun in his waistband. He is gesturing with his left hand only moves very little as he is trying to consciously control it and conceal the handgun.

  D. After about 20 seconds of interaction, the cashier likely realized that there was something off about this situation. You can see him put up a single arm barrier as his right arm came across his chest, accompanied by pacifying behavior, that right hand rubbing his shoulder. The cashier recognizes this and shifts his hand down to hold his left arm, and rubbed his arm before moving it underneath his left arm.

  2. The Men Rob the Store
  A. As soon as the cashier turns his back, the man in the white shirt presents the weapon. This act only makes partial sense because he waited until the opportunity presented itself (the cashier not looking) but never took the gun out of his pants. If he planned on leaving the gun in his pants, he would not have to wait for the cashier to turn. Only if he was going to pull the gun out would he need the time to do that.

  B. Obviously the crime is already being committed, but the man in the white shirt leans over the counter to observe the cash drawer. This area of the store is an anchor point, meaning only employees are allowed there. Even with the crime already being committed, he still had to leave a habitual area and enter an anchor point that he would not normally have access to.
  B.i. Once the crime was being conducted, their was an obvious proxemic pull to the register, causing the man in the white shirt to lean over the counter. The cash drawer has an obvious interest and attraction to the criminal. You probably see that as obvious, but you could use that to predict that at least one criminal would lean over the counter to observe the drawer.

  C. These two criminals have likely committed similar crimes before. Their body language shows they are very calm in this situation. They are relaxed and don’t recognize any threat to them, which would minimize most biometric cues. They don’t get sucked into the mission focus of staring at the register but have the awareness to monitor the outside of the store throughout the crime. Once they had all of the money from the cash drawer, you see them walk calmly away to not attract any unnecessary attention, again comfortable that there is no threat to them present.