Armed robbery in Lawrence hospitalizes shopkeeper

A masked man hit the convenience store owner on the head with a blunt object

LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP - Lawrence police are investigating an armed robbery that briefly hospitalized a convenience store owner Sunday, authorities said.

File photo of a Lawrence police car Keith Brown/The Times 

A man wearing gray sweatpants and a ski mask walked into the Quick Mart store on the 500 block of Quakerbridge Road around 9:55 p.m. Sunday and demanded that the owner give him money, Lt. Joseph Amodio said.

The owner, a 51-year-old man, told police he thought the man was joking until he jumped over the counter and hit the shopkeeper in the head with a blunt object, Amodio said.

The robber made off with an undisclosed sum of money, Amodio said.

The shopkeeper was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton for treatment, Amodio said.

The incident is under investigation, Amodio said.

Keith Brown may be reached at kbrown@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBrownTrenton. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.