Shot Fired During Robbery of Lawrence Liquor Store

An employee at Larry’s Wine and Spirits was shot at when he fought back against three men who tried to rob the liquor store late Monday night (June 27), Lawrence Township Police Chief Daniel Posluszny told Lawrenceville Patch at the scene of the holdup in the 1100 block of Brunswick Avenue.

While the bullet did not hit the clerk, he did suffer a head injury when one of the robbers threw a bottle at him, the chief said.

Officers from Lawrence, Ewing and Trenton used dogs to search the neighborhood surrounding the liquor store. The search for the three robbers was still going on early Tuesday morning.

The Tiffany Woods development off Spruce Street was “locked down” by authorities for well over an hour while officers searched a home there for a possible suspect. No one had been taken into custody as of the time of this report.

It was about 9:45 p.m. Monday when the holdup took place at the liquor store at the corner of Brunswick Avenue and Pine Street on Lawrence Township’s border with Trenton. (The opposite side of Brunswick Avenue is in Trenton, with the Trenton Fire Department’s abandoned Engine 9 firehouse standing directly opposite the liquor store.)

“Three suspects entered the business. One of them had a handgun. There was a scuffle between one of the clerks and one of the suspects,” said Chief Posluszny, who responded to the scene from his home after being notified of the crime.

“During that scuffle, one of the other suspects shot a round in some of the bottles in the back of the counter. Nobody is seriously injured. This gentleman here,” the chief said, pointing to one of several store employees being interviewed by officers, “got cut on his forehead. He had a bottle thrown at him by one of the suspects. He has a decent gash on his head.”

The chief said it was too early to tell if the gunman was actually trying to shoot the clerk and missed, or whether he fired the shot at the bottles to frighten the clerk.

He said police were still investigating what – if anything – was stolen from the store.

“It’s too early to tell. We’re still investigating at this point,” he said.