Witnesses say it was just after 4:00 p.m. when they saw three men, one of them dressed in women's Muslim garb running and the pharmacist chasing after them yelling that he had just been robbed and telling neighbors to stop them.
"He was like, 'Stop them, they robbed us, they robbed us', so I took a couple steps towards them, I saw one of them pull a gun out and said, 'Everybody back off', and then everybody backed off," witness Bill Simcox said.
The bandits then fired two shots to, as police say, scare away those around them; neighbors did indeed duck and cover.
No one was injured.
Authorities say the alarming rise in armed robberies of pharmacies may be due to the black market value of drugs like Oxycontin which can range from $25 to $50 per pill.
Action News first reported last week, the plague has led the FBI and Philadelphia Police to form the Hobbs Act Task Force. It's the first of its kind and it's aimed at seeking harsh federal penalties for those involved in violent armed robberies such as these.
For residents left shaken in the wake of the latest incident, the task force can't come soon enough.
"It's just scary, it's scary, especially during the day, There're kids outside, and it's sad that something like this had to happen," witness Wrayanne Ennis said.
The three suspects are described as black males in their late teens to early 20s. They were seen driving away in a green Ford Taurus station wagon.
Along with the one male dressed in female Muslim garb, the others were described as wearing a red shirt and a dark shirt, both were wearing blue jeans, and one was also wearing a baseball cap.
Anyone with information is asked to 911.
