Police still searching for PCPC thief

PCPC staff members are recovering from shock while police continue to search for a man who entered the Dalhousie computer store with a gun on Tuesday.

Staff members at Dalhousie University's Personal Computer Purchase Centre kept their composure Tuesday when a man armed with a gun entered the store around noon and demanded computers and cash.

"All I thought was ‘I have to get this guy out of the store and on his way,'" said lead salesperson Jacob Hitchcock.

"I tried to stay very calm and collected."

So did the robber, according to Hitchcock. The thief, described as a six-foot-tall white male wearing a brown hoodie, black sunglasses and a bandana over his face, calmly walked out of the store with three new Toshiba laptop computers and $200 cash.

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PCPC salesperson Jacob Hitchcock sits under the only security camera in the Personal Computer Purchase Centre. He was one of six staff members in the store at the time of the robbery. (Photo: Steve Davis)

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Reaction to the robbery around the Dalhousie campus. Video: Emilie Bourque

"It wouldn't surprise me if this was not his first (robbery)," said Hitchcock.

Police have not made any arrests and have no suspects so far in the investigation. Halifax Regional Police Const. Jeff Carr does not believe the store was targeted because it is on campus.

"We don't have any evidence that it's anything other than a robber targeting a retail outlet," Carr said.

Police and Dalhousie security were notified of the robbery simultaneously through the store's silent alarm and arrived to the scene at almost the exact same time.

"Security were on hand almost immediately," Dal spokesperson Charles Crosby said, "but the individual had come and gone so quickly that he had already made his escape."

The role of campus security is to ensure the threat doesn't spread, Crosby said. In cases of armed criminals or dangerous weapons, "the police have to come in and deal with that situation," he said.

The lone security camera caught footage of the robber walking straight into the store, pulling out a handgun and yelling at the four employees to fill an Adidas duffel bag with computers. There were two more staff members in the back and no customers in the store at the time of the robbery.

"We've viewed the footage," Crosby said. "So far most of the information we've had to go on in terms of identifying the person who committed the act (is from the camera)."

The Dal computer store is located in a small room beneath Fountain Hall residence. A new store will be part of the new building being constructed at the corner of Coburg and LeMarchant. Early designs suggest the store will have windows instead of walls, discouraging future robberies.

"(The robbery) has just given us all the more reason to move," Hitchcock said.

Police study video footage

Employees working at the time of the robbery were offered counseling and given as much time as they needed to cope with the situation, but Hitchcock was back in the store Wednesday.

"The best thing for me is to just get right back into it," he said.

"I've been inundated with well-wishes," said Hitchcock, who had coffee with a friend and called his friends and family after the robbery. "If there's anything positive from something like this, it's realizing how many people care about you."

Armed robberies are a rare occurrence on Dalhousie campus.

"The last gun crime was about 11 years ago, when a woman came to campus and threatened another woman with it," said Crosby. He could not recall any time when a Dal business had been robbed at gunpoint.

"This is something quite new."

Last February Dal student Tyler Dennis was robbed of his laptop by a mugger with a knife on LeMarchant St., just outside on Risley Hall.

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