Armed robber terrorizes drive-in server

EDGEWOOD, N.M. (KRQE) - The gunman who held a pistol to the head of an 18-year-old fast food worker Monday morning no only has police looking for him but has outraged, and the worker's mother.

The woman is asking anyone with information to come forward to help find the armed robber.

“I don't want my daughter to be scared anymore,” Jana Woods told KRQE News 13.

Woods said her daughter was working at the Sonic drive-in in Edgewood just off Interstate 40 when a man walked in just after opening at 6 a.m. Monday.

“She turned around and said they locked eyes, and he grabbed her by her hip and put a gun at the base of her neck,” Woods said.

Her daughter was too shaken up to be interviewed by News 13.

Woods said the robber kept telling her daughter not to look at him and threatened to shoot when a co-worker walked in if she didn't hand over cash.

Edgewood police said the man threw Woods' daughter to the ground, grabbed the money and ran.

“She is just hysterical. She is beside herself,” Woods continued. “I can't imagine what it's like to have a gun pointed to your head.

"She said all she could think about was, ‘Mom, I'm going to die, and I hope this doesn't hurt.’”

This is the first armed robbery the town has seen in more than a year.

“This is a rural community. It is a quiet community,” Edgewood Police Department Chief James Daniels said. “It's rare to see something like this.”

The Sonic is in a high-traffic area, but that didn't deter the gunman.

“The timing was everything,” Daniels said. “[The robber] was like the first one in after two employees this morning.”

Police said they don't know if the man is from the area or was just driving through. No one saw a car at the scene.

The robber wore gloves, so police say there isn't any evidence other than the surveillance video at this point. And even then, all you can see are the suspect’s eyes, which Woods said her daughter will never forget.

“Somebody has to know something,” Woods said. “This is my youngest child. I don't know what I would've done if something would've happened to her.”

Her daughter isn't sure if she's going to go back to work after this, she added.

Police say they're still in the process of reviewing the surveillance video and interviewing witnesses.