News Nearby: Armed Robbery of Staff and Visitors at the Perry Homes Library Branch

The Atlanta Police Department is hoping that someone from the community will speak up and share information leading to the arrest of the armed thieves that stormed into the Perry Homes Library branch on Friday and robbed everyone inside.  
According to Officer Kim Jones, "officers were dispatched on July 19th to the Perry Homes Library located at 2011 Bolton Road, in response to a report of a robbery."

APD says that a woman who works at the library stated that "two black males, one in his mid 30's and another in his mid 40's entered the library and yelled 'Get on the ground, (expletive) You know what this is!"

The witness says that suspect 1 produced a handgun and pointed it at various people in the library.  This particular witness says she dropped her purse and that "the subject took her wallet, cellphone, ID, and $10."

The brazen thieves continued to rob other patrons, and officers believe they may have targeted the location knowing that there were no surveillance cameras inside the library.  Library branch authorities told the AJC that there is a panic button at the branch that is supposed to alert APD during an emergency.  It was first reported that this "panic button" was not working, but according to Kelly Robinson Vann with the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System, the button did work and was the first alert APD received of the incident.

Suspect 2 also had a handgun and shoved it in the face of a woman at the service desk, yelling "get down on the floor!"  She told APD officers that the suspect retrieved two of their purses from a file cabinet in the offices.

Other patrons that were using computers or in the general path of these thieves were also targeted and robbed at gun point.  They were told to get down on the floor and to empty their pockets, as they were violated one by one.

There were at least 6 people at the library branch robbed in this way.  Many of them were dumbfounded to find out that there were no security cameras or any protection in place that may have saved them from this crime, or even help solve the crime.

The two gunman were able to flee the scene with an undisclosed amount of money, cellphones, and other valuables.  If you know or have any information for police officers, you are urged to call CrimeStoppers.