INDIANAPOLIS — Wednesday night, police said an AT&T store near 82nd Street and Allisonville Road was robbed, with the suspect – or suspects – carrying a rifle.
The thief reportedly stole $15,000 worth of merchandise in the robbery. According to IMPD reports, it's the third armed robbery at that store in 2024.
Thursday, a sign on the store's door said it was closed until Sunday "due to unforeseen circumstances," but to a former employee, Wednesday's robbery wasn't exactly that.
"We told them, 'Hey, it’s going to happen again. It’s going to be, this time, might actually be more serious than before, actually hurt someone.' What we got was, they were constantly telling us, 'We’ve already given you all of our resources. There’s nothing else to do,'" said a former AT&T store employee who didn't want to be identified.
She was working as the general manager at that store. On Jan. 25, around closing time, she said she was face-to-face with an armed robber.
"Next thing we know, the door swung and there was a person that was covered up, completely covered up with maybe like an AK-47," she said. "He literally pointed it at me, he was holding the gun at me, and he said, 'Go open the safe for me and nothing is going to happen.'"
Police reports show the thief took 40 tablets and phones worth an estimated $10,000.
"He made me actually put the phones in the bag for him because he didn't want to touch anything, and I'm terrified," the former employee said. "The phones are heavy, I'm holding this heavy bag. I'm almost crying, telling myself, 'Don't cry.'"
This incident came after a similar armed robbery, the same time of day, about two weeks earlier on Jan. 9.
IMPD said it has increased patrols in the area.
"Any time there’s a pattern of crimes, whether that be a location, store types, similar suspect descriptions, our detectives do a good job of identifying those and try to match up those incidents to identify if there is the same individual or same individuals involved in robberies, which is oftentimes the case," IMPD Lt. Shane Foley said.
"Based on cameras we watched and stories me and the other person shared, it seemed like it was the same people that were doing it. We just didn't catch no face or anything like that because they were very covered up," said the former employee, who said she and the team members who worked under her quit within two weeks of the robbery in late January.
"I was a GM," she said. "I actually worked very hard for that position."
The former employee said corporate didn't do enough to protect them.
"The best thing they could do for us was to give us a timed safe and give us three therapy sessions. Other than that, we asked for an active security guard or something like that, but they wouldn't," she said.
Police have not announced any arrests for any of the robberies.
AT&T and the company that owns the store, My Wireless, declined to comment.