Police Seek Clues In Shell Station Robbery

By Andrew Gorosko

Newtown and Danbury police this week compared notes in seeking to learn who robbed two gas stations in those towns early on the morning of Saturday, July 26.

Detective Sergeant Robert Tvardzik said August 6 that the trio of bandits who robbed Newtown Shell Service at 67 Church Hill Road made off with only “several hundred dollars.”

The robbers stole the money after one of the three assailants assaulted the male gas station attendant there with a baseball bat. Police have linked that armed robbery to another armed robbery that took place at an Exxon gas station on North Main Street in Danbury about 40 minutes later.

At 2:14 am, Newtown police responded to a hold-up alarm, which was triggered at the Shell station at the intersection of Church Hill Road and Edmond Road, near Exit 10 of Interstate 84. On arriving, police learned that the unidentified station attendant had just been the victim of armed robbery and assault.

Police said three males wearing masks and various facial coverings had entered the gas station. One of the men struck the attendant several times with a baseball bat, as the other two men stole money and cigarettes from the sales counter. One of the assailants carried a handgun.

Following the robbery, the three criminals fled the gas station and went into the parking lot of an adjacent business, from which they then apparently fled in a vehicle.

The unidentified injured gas station attendant was taken to Danbury Hospital for treatment of head, arm, and leg injuries, after which he was released.

Det Sgt Tvardzik said the Shell station has both indoor and outdoor video cameras for surveillance of the premises. Newtown police are comparing video surveillance recorded at the Shell station with video surveillance recorded at the Exxon station in Danbury, he said. That Exxon station is near an I-84 exit.

State police collected evidence at the Shell station on July 26. Newtown police ask anyone with information about the Shell station robbery to contact them at 426-5841, or at the police tip line at 270-8888.