An employee of a shop in Courthouse was beaten by a robber early Wednesday morning, according to police.
The robbery happened around 3 a.m. at the Tobacco Vape Cigars store at 2305 Wilson Blvd.
“The employee was inside the closed business when he heard the male suspect force entry into the store by shattering a glass door,” Arlington County police said today in a crime report. “The employee attempted to confront the suspect, who began collecting merchandise, and a physical altercation ensued during which the suspect struck the employee before fleeing the scene on foot.”
“Medics evaluated and released the employee on scene,” the crime report continued. “Responding officers broadcast a lookout and canvassed the area for the suspect yielding negative results.”
The smoke shop is located in a small building that formerly housed SuperStar Tickets.
The circumstances surrounding this morning’s robbery are somewhat similar to those of a high-profile case in Arlington from March 2020. A group of three people broke into a smoke shop in the Green Valley neighborhood during early morning hours, and an employee who was sleeping in the back shot one of them. The employee was charged with Malicious Wounding but found not guilty last year.
The wee hours of the morning ended up being a busy time for Arlington first responders today. Around the same time as the robbery was dispatched for police, firefighters were arriving on scene of a small fire at the Ethiopian Community Development Council building, just off Columbia Pike on S. Highland Street.