Lakewood, NJ – It was anything but business as usual at a Jewish-owned Lakewood, New Jersey shoe store on Monday night as a man brandishing a gun entered the premises and ordered everyone inside onto the floor while he robbed the cash register.
Owners of the Shoe Palace in Lakewood, who spoke with TOT News on condition of anonymity, said that there were terrifying moments for the handful of customers shopping in the Route 9 store in Howell as the robbery unfolded at approximately 6 PM.
Several children who were in the store during the robbery ran outside to a neighboring dry cleaner as the robbery unfolded.
The Howell Police Department said that surveillance footage showed the suspect approach from an adjacent commercial lot and walk back and forth in front of the store several times before entering Shoe Palace and pulling a gun.
The suspect is described as a black man, approximately six feet tall with a muscular build, wearing a black North Face sweatshirt and black flannel pants.
After receiving all the money in the store’s register the suspect fled on foot across Route 9, heading westbound towards Ford Road.
Howell police responded to the crime scene with a K9 unit but were unable to locate the suspect.
Shoe Palace, a branch of a Brooklyn business by the same name, opened in Lakewood on September 1st and is currently in a temporary location while their official premises is being renovated.
A gas station located just across the highway from Shoe Palace has reportedly been held up at gunpoint several times.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact Detective Anthony Romano of the Howell Police Department at 732-938-4575 extension 2879 or by email at aromano@howellpolice.org.
