Robbers loot Richmond pharmacy

Police are asking for the public’s help and offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of three masked men who robbed a pharmacy in Richmond on Friday, police said today.

Police responded to a report of a robbery at a pharmacy at 139 W. Richmond Ave. in Point Richmond, said Sgt. Nicole Abetkov.

The Point Pharmacy is located at that address, according to its website.

Abetkov said three men wearing masks approached the front counter and forced the pharmacist and pharmacy technician to the ground, where the men bound their hands.

Abetkov could not say what the employees’ hands were bound with, and said she did not know whether the men were armed.

While two of the suspects held the employees to the ground, the other took a variety of prescription drugs, including OxyContin, oxycodone, and oxymorphone, Abetkov said.

During the course of the robbery, a United States Postal Service driver came to the store to make a delivery and was also held hostage by the suspected robbers, Abetkov said.

After the suspects fled the store, Abetkov said one of the victims was able to free him or herself and call police.

Abetkov said the incident is one of a growing number of pharmacy heists in Richmond:

“It’s been an increasing thing we’ve seen over the last couple of years. Controlled narcotics are being sold at the street level like crack cocaine or heroin.”

Young adults and teenagers are gravitating towards pharmaceutical drugs, Abektov said:

“It’s more prescription narcotics than regular street drugs these days…It’s getting to be the drug of choice.”

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Detective Dan Wellhausen at (510) 620-6860 or the anonymous tip line at (510) 232-TIPS (8477).

Abetkov said the department is also offering a $2,000 reward if the suspects are taken into custody and convicted.