JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two armed, masked men robbed a Wingstop restaurant late Tuesday night on Jacksonville's Westside and pistol-whipped two employees, police said.
Police responded about 12:45 a.m. to the chicken wing restaurant on Blanding Boulevard, just north of 103rd Street.
Victims said the two robbers, who were wearing all black, entered the restaurant with firearms, told everyone to get on the ground, hit two workers with their guns and demanded money from the employees and four customers who were inside. The men took two cellphones and forced one of the employees to open a cash register.
They got away with an unknown amount of money. A witness said they went west on 103rd Street.
One of those customers told News4Jax that when the gun-wielding men ran in just before midnight, she thought she was going to die.
“I was just laying there hoping not to hear gunshots. I was seriously thinking, 'I'm about to feel the pain of death,'” said the woman, who asked not to be identified. “My head was down, so I didn’t see anything. I really didn’t want to lift my head, because the one guy was standing in the lobby about 5, 5 (to) 10 feet away from me pointing in my direction.”
The woman said she can barely sleep after the incident. She said it was her first time going to the Wingstop, and she'll never go back.
According to police, two other robberies in the area in the last year had very similar scenarios. Each case involved two masked gunmen who rob the clerk at the cash register. One happened at a Subway on Timuquana Road just 2 miles from the Wingstop.
A man whose mother lives in the area said he’s concerned about safety.
“I already have people messaging, telling me they don’t want to go to that Wingstop anymore because I fear for my life,” Franco Brantley said. “I was a little surprised but then not because the Metro right next to it got robbed last year. My hope is for the community do better, come up out of the crime element and do better.”
Area no stranger to crime
News4Jax used JSO's crime-mapping system to look into the area and found that within a mile radius, in the past six months, there were:
- 148 larcenies
- 53 vehicle break-ins
- 79 assaults
- 48 burglaries
- 22 vehicle thefts
- 9 robberies
“I feel there should be more of a citizen involvement in the streets,” said one neighbor, who declined to give his name. “There are a lot of people getting hurt and killed around here.”
ONLINE: Track crime in your area with JSO crime map
In April 2016, a 26-year-old man was shot as he robbed the Metro PCS cellphone store next door to the Wingstop.
Residents in the area said crime is a major problem at night and during the day. They said they hope the latest restaurant robbery wakes people up to see the crime needs to stop.
“I really don't think this is a safe area at all,” Shardae Johnson said. “It's not even safe in your home, so I don't even know.”
VIDEO: Crime surges on Westside
News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith said any time residents are out, they need to be paying attention. Not just to what they are doing, but to what others around them are doing as well. And businesses need to be sure to take every step necessary to be safe.
“Sometimes it may be a little bit more expensive to do that, but you are protecting your business and protecting your neighborhood,” Smith said. “If you have a series of businesses in an area with surveillance video, that video will overlap.”
Police said the Wingstop robbery was caught on camera. One of the managers at the restaurant said Wingstop is trying to figure out the best way to make its employees feel safe again.
Anyone with any information on Wednesday's robbery is asked to call the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office at 904-630-0500 or Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS.
