Nalih Patel was working behind the counter at the Wooster Street Market Dec. 11, when a man came in with a small black gun.
The man demanded money, Patel recalled Monday.
“I said, ‘I don’t have any money,’” Patel said. “‘He said ‘Don’t mess with me.’”
But the man left empty handed, according to Patel and Shelton police.
Patel said once he explained that he couldn’t access the store’s money because the owner wasn’t there, the gunman ran out of the shop, on Wooster Street across from Plumb Memorial Library.
“Obviously we don’t recommend that,” said Detective Ben Trabka of Patel’s denial.
Shelton police are investigating the attempted robbery, and another robbery that took place shortly after at the Subway sandwich shop on Bridgeport Avenue.
The clerk there said a man with a gun came in shortly after 8 p.m. and demanded money. Police did not disclose how much the robber got. The Wooster Street Market robbery attempt happened at about 7:55, police said.
In both scenarios, the robber was described as a shorter white or Hispanic man wearing a black mask and a black vest.
Police are investigating whether he may be the same person who robbed a Sunoco station on Howe Avenue at gunpoint last Wednesday.
The description is the same, Trabka said.
After the gas station robbery, Wooster Street Market increased its staffing levels, according to owner Harry Patel.
Harry Patel has owned the store for the past 10 years.
“We’ve never had this trouble before,” Patel said.
It’s been more than two years since the last time an armed man tried to rob the place, Harry Patel said.
It was Nalih Patel behind the counter that day too. In that incident, in September 2008, the robber didn’t get any money either, Nalih Patel said.
“He took cigarettes,” Nalih Patel said.
Anyone with information on any of the robberies is asked to call Shelton Police at (203) 924‑1544.
