An investigation is underway into an armed robbery of a Neptune grocery store that happened last night.
Police were called to the Little Brown Jug Grocery Store located at 2040 NJ Rt. 33 shortly before 8:30 p.m. on reports of an armed robbery at gunpoint.
Units arriving to the scene found a store employee suffering a minor head injury after being assaulted by a male suspect that robbed the store.
The victim told police that a black male entered the store armed with a gun and demanded cash from the register. When the clerk was attempting to meet the suspect's demands, he begin to attack with the gun the clerk said. The suspect took an undetermined amount of cash from the store before fleeing the scene on a bike.
The suspect was only described as a thin black man, last seen wearing black clothing, a black mask, black hoodie, black pants, and a black backpack, according to authorities.
The store is the location of an unsolved murder that happened about a decade ago according to published reports.
On March 22, 1996, The Neptune City Police were dispatched to Little Brown Jug in the Gables Shopping center for a suspicious circumstance. When the patrols arrived, they found the victim, Smita Amin Patel, lying lifeless on the floor.
She had been murdered. Although several suspects were investigated, to this date no one has been charged with the crime. We ask anyone with information is encouraged to contact the police tip line at 732-775-1499 or the Monmouth County Prosecutors office at 732-577-8700