FRESNO, CA — Around 3:30 am on January 17th, a burglary occurred at the Shell gas station located at 17822 N. Friant Road in Friant.
Four men, all wearing hoods and masks, arrived in a white pickup truck pulling a small cargo trailer. They broke into the front door of the store and split up. As the security alarm went off, two men removed an ATM, while the other two went behind the counter and removed a safe. Both contained cash. The exact amount of money is not being disclosed. After spending only one minute in the store, the men wheeled the ATM and safe into the parking lot. They loaded the ATM into the trailer, but for unknown reasons left the safe behind in the parking lot as they drove away.
The store manager received a call about the alarm being activated and immediately drove to the store. When they arrived around 3:35 am, the suspects were gone, but they did find the safe lying in the parking lot. The manager made a report to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office and deputies responded to take a report. Hours later, deputies recovered the stolen ATM, which had been discarded on the side of the road. All of the cash had been removed from the machine.
The gas station is equipped with surveillance cameras and recorded the burglary from multiple angles both inside and outside of the store. Their pickup truck is possibly an early 2000s GMC Sierra extended cab model.
Anyone who knows the identities of the suspects or has additional information on this case is asked to contact Detective Michael Clark at (559) 600-8058 or Crime Stoppers at (559) 498-7867. You will remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward.
