Armed robber hits Wasilla business

WASILLA -- Wasilla Police responded on Friday, Nov. 8, to a report of armed robbery at Rippie World located at 437 W. Parks Hwy.

According to police reports, a white man in his late teens, wearing a cream-colored hooded sweatshirt, sunglasses and masked with a red bandana, entered the store at about 6:10 p.m. and robbed the clerk at gunpoint.

The suspect then reportedly left the business, got into the passenger side of a small dark sedan, and drove east from the scene.

The clerk said Tuesday that she believed the entire incident was over in 90 seconds. She said that there were other people in the general vicinity of the business when the robber walked right into the front door already wearing the bandana, and up to the counter where she was standing.

She said he seemed a little shaky, but it was as if he had rehearsed his lines, saying quickly, "This is a robbery. Open up the till and give me all your money. Hurry up."

"So that's what I did," she added. "That's what I've been told to do. My employers tell me don't hesitate to do what they say."

"I didn't notice at first that he had a gun," she continued, saying that he must have had the weapon in a pocket when he first entered.

According to the clerk, one customer was in the business playing at a table when the incident occurred. When the robber saw the customer, he told the man not to try anything. The customer told her later that he followed the robber's instructions out of concern for her safety, but that if he had been there by himself he would have tried to stop the robbery.

Once she had emptied the till for the robber, the clerk said the man left the building, got into his car, and was gone so quickly that he was almost to the street by the time she and her customer got to the door. She then locked the door and called the police.

"Nothing like this has ever happened to me before," she said. "And I certainly hope it never does again."

Her employers have instructed her to lock the door after dark now, and she says that's what she does. She can see whoever comes up to the glass door and, since she knows most of her regular customers, says she feels comfortable with the procedure.

She had only worked at the Wasilla business since May and did not know if it had been robbed before, but said that a Rippie World in Muldoon was robbed about a month ago.