Police Search For Suspect Wanted In String Of Mercer County Gas Station Robberies

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HAMILTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBS) – Police in Mercer County are searching for a suspect in a series of gas station robberies, including one where an attendant was shot.

It was a typical busy Monday morning for 45-year-old Daljit Singh, pumping gas for early morning commuters at the Gulf gas station on Chambers Street near the border of Trenton and Hamilton Township.

Then out of nowhere, surveillance video shows that around 6 a.m., a man with a gun ran up demanding Singh's cash.

The two struggled, Singh was shot and the man ran off with the money.

A fellow Gulf employee stayed with Singh as he laid on the ground reeling in pain until paramedics arrived.

A co-worker tells Eyewitness News Singh had emergency surgery for the gunshot wound to his abdomen and is expected to recover. The suspect, only described as a 5-foot-7 black man with a sturdy build, remains on the loose after a busy morning.

Less than half an hour before the shooting, the same man allegedly did an armed robbery at a Fast Trac gas station about a mile away on Greenwood Avenue.

Then he tried to rob another Fast Trac on Chambers Street but was unsuccessful. The Fast Trac is just a half block from the Gulf gas station where he did his third and final attack on Singh.

"All these robberies are brazen, said Hamilton Township Police Detective Captain Joseph Klimaszewski.

Hamilton Township Police won't say why the gunman chose to hit up the gas stations that he did Monday morning. They believe he used a stolen car and ditched it at the first robbery location.

Until he's caught police want employees at all gas stations in the area to be on alert.

"At the first signs of any suspicious activity, if you think you're being [watched] by a would be robber call the police immediately and we'll come and try to do the best we can to protect and serve you," said Klimaszewski.