$30,000 in cash, drugs stolen from Phila. pharmacy

KENSINGTON - February 4, 2013 (WPVI) -- Police say three men got away with $30,000 in cash and drugs after a pharmacy robbery in the Kensington section of Philadelphia.

Authorities say three armed men wearing dark hoodies barged into the York Street Pharmacy around 11:00 a.m.

They pulled guns on the three employees inside and started shouting out orders.

"Told us to lay on the floor, took all the narcotics, then walked out the store. They didn't hurt anybody here," store owner Ervis Rravi said.

The gunmen went straight for the narcotics, cleaning out about $15,000 worth of OxyContin.

On the way out they ran into a customer and knocked her down the stairs.

Her husband says she was terrified.

"The driver tried to pull her in and she pulled herself back. She fell down the steps as she was pulling herself back. Then she ran and said they fired a shot in the air," the victim's husband said.

As the gunmen fled down York Street, they fired a shot into the air and disappeared around the corner on Cedar Street.

This is the second time this pharmacy has been robbed in the past four months. Police arrested the suspects in the first robbery in November.

Police say they were responsible for upwards of 18 drug store robberies, mostly in Northeast Philadelphia.

Detectives were able to track them down by planting a GPS device in a bottle of narcotics the suspects eventually stole from a Rite Aid.

The gang who hit this pharmacy today was captured on video that police are analyzing.

The store owner is getting tired of having guns pointed in his face.

"It was scary, but when you're a business owner and you try to do so much for communities, stuff like this happens," Rravi said.

The owner says he hates to do it, but, as soon as he can, he'll have a remote lock installed on the door and customers will have to be buzzed in.

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philadelphia, kensington, robbery, local/state

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