Masked man with handgun robs Barth’s Drug Store on East Main Street

Barth’s Drug Store on East Main Street was robbed at gunpoint this afternoon just before 2:45.

A man wearing a gorilla mask entered the pharmacy through the back entrance, placed a gun to an employee’s head and demanded money, according to a witness at the scene whose niece was inside filling a prescription.

“He jumped over the counter and put his gun to the cashier’s head,” she said her  niece told her.   “He told the employee to give him the money in the one cash register, and to hurry up.” The woman said she was waiting in her car on Main Street at the time of the robbery, and she entered the pharmacy after her niece called to report what had happened.

“I was wondering what was taking her so long,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified. “They were all very shook up,” she said. Her niece, age 42, was transported to Peconic Bay Medical Center with chest pains after the incident.

Riverhead police and a Suffolk County Sheriff’s K9 unit responded to the scene to investigate. Police immediately set up a perimeter, stationing patrol cars on surrounding roads.

The suspect was described in radio reports as a black male, about  6-1 or 6-2, with a muscular build. He was wearing a black t-shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers. He left the building through the rear door and reportedly fled east.

Two eyewitnesses at the scene said they thought they saw the man get into a car.

This is the second time Barth’s Drugstore has been the scene of an armed robbery in recent years. A trio of men robbed the store at gunpoint on November 7, 2012.

Denise Civiletti contributed reporting.