{"id":108220,"date":"2026-01-06T22:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T22:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/108220\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T22:49:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T22:49:12","slug":"masked-robbers-pepper-spray-clerks-in-st-petersburg-cvs-heist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/108220\/","title":{"rendered":"Masked robbers pepper-spray clerks in St. Petersburg CVS heist"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ST. PETE., Fla. \u2014 St. Petersburg Police Department (SPPD) said it is searching for two masked robbers who pepper-sprayed salesclerks during a late-night theft at a CVS store in St. Petersburg and are linked to a series of robberies in the city.<\/p>\n<p>Officers said the suspects entered the store at 301 Third Street South at about 11:45 p.m. Monday. One robber forced their way behind the counter and shoved a clerk, while the other sprayed the clerk in the face with &#8220;a substance believed to be pepper spray.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>SPPD said when a second salesclerk tried to intervene, they were also sprayed with pepper spray, and the suspects fled with more than $1,000 in merchandise.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators described the robbers as possibly in their 20s, each with long black braids and wearing blue surgical masks. The suspect who pushed the clerk wore a long-sleeved gray sweatshirt, black joggers with white stripes, and tan UGG-style boots. The second suspect, who sprayed the clerks, wore a long-sleeved white top with small red hearts, black joggers, and sandals.<\/p>\n<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767739751_857_.png\" alt=\"Pepper spray robbery suspect\"  width=\"1280\" height=\"717\"\/><\/p>\n<p>SPPD<\/p>\n<p>Police believe the pair may be linked to other robberies across the region and two others in St. Petersburg since Dec. 1.<\/p>\n<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767739751_543_.png\" alt=\"Pepper spray robbery suspects\"  width=\"1280\" height=\"670\"\/><\/p>\n<p>SPPD<\/p>\n<p>Anyone with information is asked to call the St. Petersburg Police Department at 727-893-7780 or text SPPD + your tip to TIP411.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mediaassets.abcactionnews.com\/image\/VideoModule\/Trending_Video_TampaBay28.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Experts debunk common myths about human trafficking during awareness month<\/p>\n<p>HeartDance Foundation experts explain how trafficking really happens in local communities, dispelling misconceptions about kidnapping and stranger danger.<\/p>\n<p>Experts debunk common myths about human trafficking during awareness month<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETE., Fla. \u2014 St. Petersburg Police Department (SPPD) said it is searching for two masked robbers who&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[205,55419,55420,55421,596,55422,202,204,203,199,201,200,3670,208],"class_list":["post-108220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-abc-action-news","tag-cvs-heist","tag-masked-robbers","tag-pepper-spray","tag-pinellas-county","tag-robbers","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa-bay-local-news","tag-wfts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}