The handgun was black, with a long barrel, and it was being pointed at Deer Park service station attendant Kerrie Medlicott’s face.
The 68-year-old single mother, who had been preparing to clock off about 6pm on Sunday just before a man dressed head-to-toe in black and armed with a gun walked in, said she froze and her mind raced to her daughters.
“I was checking the back office then I heard the door and I turned around … I could hear somebody saying, “I want everything you’ve got, now”, and I’m thinking right, what the hell is going on here,” she told reporters today as she recounted her terrifying ordeal.
“He got the gun out and pointed it at me … I firstly couldn’t get into the computer because I panicked, the adrenaline kicked in, and then I got it together, I opened it, got the cash together, gave it to him.
“I just thought he was going to shoot me, he was so nervous, [I thought] if he keeps shaking like that he might have his finger on the trigger and I’m dead. I was just thinking about getting home to my daughters.”
Police said the offender, a 25-35-year-old man of Eastern European appearance made off with $153 in cash.
Ms Medlicott said she thought she would be shot. “It all happened very quickly,” she said. “A lot of emotions – of fear and trauma – go through your head, you think you’re going to die, especially when you’ve got that thing pointing at you. And if they’re not satisfied you think they’re going to do it anyway.”
She has urged for the offender to hand himself into police. “Do the right thing and come forward, I don’t care what his situation is, don’t do that to us because we have to work to pay our bills,” she told reporters. “Go get a job.”
Police from Brimbank’s Embona taskforce believe the offender is behind a string of armed robberies dating back to May 21.
Senior Constable Belinda Mewha said a man held up two chemists, one in Station Street, Deer Park and another in Main Road West, St Albans, and stole cash and confectionary.
“It is definitely the same male, he’s targeted two chemists, and also a service station within close proximity of each other,” Senior Constable Mewha said. “On each occasion he’s gone into the premises and produced a firearm and demanded cash.”
She said it appeared the offender has good local knowledge of the area.
Police fear he may strike again, and have called on the public to contact Crime Stoppers with any information.
“Given he has already produced a firearm it shows he is quite confident in his actions, although he speaks a little bit nervously,” Senior Constable Mewha said. “Without a doubt we believe he will reoffend.”
