UNION CITY — Girl Scouts selling cookies are a common sight this time of year outside local supermarkets, but a local scout’s experience was shattered Wednesday when her proceeds were stolen by a gunman outside a Union City grocery store, according to police.
Neither the 12-year-old girl nor her mother were hurt, but they were understandably upset, police said. So were police, who have so far donated more than $1,000 to the mother and girl — and also bought all the cookies they could.
The robbery happened about 5:15 p.m. in front of the Safeway store at 1790 Decoto Road. Police said the suspect approached and asked about buying some cookies, but left without purchasing any.
He returned a short time later, displayed a pistol and robbed the girl’s mother of an undisclosed amount of cash that had been collected from cookie sales, police said.
He fled through the store parking lot and has not yet been caught.
The robber is described as a black male, 16 to 19 years old, between 5 feet 4 and 5 feet 6 with a thin build. He wore dark clothing that included a hooded sweatshirt.
Many of the officers involved in the investigation have children actively involved in scouting, and donated their own money to cover the loss from the robbery, officials said. The Union City Police Officers Association purchased all of the girl’s remaining boxes of cookies.
Union City police Sgt. Steve Mendez said Thursday that officers, after hearing of the robbery Wednesday, said “Oh my God and started busting out their wallets and handing money over.”
Mendez said he has been with Union City department for nearly 28 years and hasn’t heard of a similar robbery.
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The girl’s mother delivered dozens of boxes of cookies to police Thursday and Sgt. Bob Kensic gave her a cash donation collected from the department officers. Sgt. Stan Rodrigues, president of the police association, provided a check for all of the unsold cookies. The total amount donated by police and the association was more than $1,000.
Mendez said he is “just glad no one was hurt and we were able to change a negative thing into something positive for the mom and her daughter. It was traumatic for them.”
Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call police at 510-675-5275, or Detective D. Dejong at 510-675-5227. Anonymous tips may be left at 510-675-5207 or at Tips@unioncity.org.
