
Rockland was struck by a bold robbery early Saturday morning, as two men targeting a local 7-11 made off with cash and cigarettes. According to a Facebook post by the Rockland Police Department, the duo entered the store at 92 Market Street shortly after night had ceded to the very early murmur of life that comes before the dawn.
The perpetrators caught the lone clerk unawares, who, engaged in the habitual act of preparing morning coffee, was blindsided when confronted with a firearm and knife, brandished with the singular purpose of thievery; the police describe one assailant as a Hispanic male standing around 6 feet tall decked in black NIKE sweatpants, blue sneakers, a black puffy jacket and a black half face mask, his accomplice a white male of about 5'8" in gray sweatpants, black hoodie, likewise a black half mask and shod in white slides.
The Rockland Police's account reveals that after marching the clerk to the register, the suspects, donning blue latex gloves asserting an eerie professionalism, extracted its contents alongside approximately $80 worth of cigarettes—amounting to six packs—before disappearing on foot towards Highland Street, perhaps to a patiently waiting getaway vehicle. The loss of the register's contents and cigarettes, while holding tangible value, pales before the psychological tax imposed on the victims of such nocturnal plunderings.
The case, still ripe with the scent of the Saturday crime, is now the subject of relentless investigation by local authorities who are canvassing the area for home surveillance footage that might unveil the masked marauders identities police believe that those capable of lending a clue to the identity of these men, should not, in good conscience, delay reaching out with their potentially pivotal information.
The Rockland Police Department has urged the public to step forward with any useful intelligence on the crime and has provided multiple avenues for contributing to the case: a direct line at 781-871-3890 and an anonymous tipline at their website. With the wound of theft freshly emblazoned upon the tranquility of Rockland's night, the police's plea is a testament to the shared responsibility of a community in safeguarding its peace and security.