Police investigate robbery at Patchogue 7-Eleven

Authorities are investigating the robbery of a 7-Eleven store Saturday night in Patchogue, Suffolk County police said.

A police spokesman said Fifth Squad detectives were investigating the robbery at 11:45 p.m. in which a man armed with a handgun entered the 7-Eleven at 139 Sunrise Highway and demanded cash.

“The clerk complied and the man fled on foot,” the spokesman said in an email.

The manager of the store said in a telephone interview Sunday morning that the male robber, armed with a gun, walked into the store while one male employee was inside checking expired perishables to throw them away.

“ ‘Give me the money, I just need the money,’ ” the manager said the robber told the employee. “He had a mask covering his face.”

The manager said the employee complied, then the robber also unplugged and took the store’s wall telephone.

“He unplugged the wall phone so he [the employee] couldn’t call the police and as soon as he got the phone, he walked away and left,” the manager said.