ELKINS PARK, Pa. — Two armed suspects made off with more than $700,000 in a brazen daylight robbery of a Brinks armored truck outside a suburban Philadelphia shopping center on Tuesday, police said.
The heist unfolded just after 10:30 a.m. outside the H Mart at the intersection of West Cheltenham Avenue and Old York Road in Elkins Park, Montgomery County, according to Cheltenham police. Lieutenant Andrew Snyder said the truck’s driver was confronted by two men — one wielding a rifle, the other a handgun — who demanded her firearm before seizing the cash. The driver was not injured.
The suspects fled in a black Acura TLX with tinted windows, which was later found abandoned in Philadelphia. Surveillance video released by police shows the driver exiting the truck with a bag of money before the masked suspects rush her from behind, one carrying an AR-15-style pistol and the other a handgun. The driver dropped the bag as the robbers closed in. Moments later, the pair is seen running away, one clutching the cash, with the gunman pointing his weapon toward the driver during their escape.
Police also released still images of the suspects, who wore hoodies and face coverings. Authorities are urging anyone with information to contact Cheltenham police at 215-885-1600.
Snyder said the robbery marks the first armored truck heist in his department’s jurisdiction, but investigators are probing possible links to a series of similar crimes in Philadelphia in recent months.
On June 21, robbers targeted a Brinks truck outside a Home Depot in Port Richmond. Five days later, another armored truck was held up outside an Aldi in Lawncrest. On July 2, a robbery occurred outside a Dollar General in the Holmesburg Shopping Center, followed by a July 15 heist in Northeast Philadelphia along the 8200 block of Castor Avenue.
Brinks, in a statement, declined to comment on the specifics of the case, citing safety concerns, and directed inquiries to law enforcement.
