Houston smoke shop robbed twice in one week

Screen shot of Twitter.com/ High Rollers Smoke Shop's post

Earlier this month, at least one gang of robbers tried and tried again when they hit a northwest Houston smoke shop twice within a week.

Videos by Rare

And now, the store’s owner is taking matters into her own hands:

Last Monday, three masked men reportedly entered the High Rollers shop near the corner of Northwest Freeway and Fairbanks North Houston, where they threatened the clerk and a customer, demanding the clerk give them the combination to the store’s safe.

“‘Please! I can’t! I don’t know it! I don’t know it!'” the clerk said he told the thieves, during an interview with a local TV station. “I told them to take it. ‘There’s three of you. Take the safe.'”

RELATED: Houston Robbery Crews Attempt Nearly Simultaneous ATM Thefts

The thieves allegedly didn’t follow her advice, however, instead taking an unknown amount of cash from the register, as well as the clerk’s phone and car keys, the store employee said further:

“I thought they were going to take me. I thought they were going to hurt me. The worst things were going through my mind.”

Although they left the same night, turns out, they wanted to stop by the store one more time:

The following Sunday night, surveillance video showed another trio of thieves, potentially the same assailants from the previous robbery, breaking in through the store’s back door; reports indicate the three men carried the safe away and escaped in a silver Dodge Charger.

Store owner Kasandra Kaplan said she installed the cameras after the robbery earlier in the week, and she is also offering a reward for any information on the incident:

“They have obviously done this before and they’re probably going to do this again. And if someone reacts the wrong way, somebody’s probably going to end up getting killed,” Kaplan said during another interview.

RELATED: Deputies Search for Suspects in Houston Armored Car Robbery

Despite the threats against her employee, Kaplan said she believes police aren’t taking the crimes seriously because the business is a smoke shop.

“I feel like if this was a bakery, they would have probably found the people,” Kaplan said additionally.

If you would like to share information on this incident, contact your local authorities or Kaplan directly at her shop using the contact information posted here.

What do you think?

A Houston entrepreneur wants to turn his father’s gubernatorial legacy into a dynasty, using T.V. to do it

NASA scientist, Houston resident sentenced to 7.5 years in Turkish prison