2 men rob 3 women walking from parking lot to SugarHouse Casino, striking one, police say

Despite 500 surveillance cameras recording 24/7, city police were not able to obtain footage clear enough to help them identify two thugs involved in the armed robbery of three women outside SugarHouse Casino yesterday.

"At this time from the angles of the video there is no way that we can make an identification of the males," said Lt. Ray Evers, a police spokesman. "We can see the car, clothing, things of that nature but nothing for facial identification."

The two men stole $340 from the women and pistol-whipped one of them in the casino's parking lot early yesterday morning before fleeing in a stolen car, police said. The injured woman was treated for a head wound at Episcopal Hospital and released, Evers said.

The women, ages 29, 30 and 32, had just parked their car in the casino's lot on Delaware Avenue and were walking inside when the assailants, armed with silver handguns, announced a robbery and demanded money, Evers said.

It's the second violent incident related to the casino in the last two months. In October, a 26-year-old New Jersey man was followed to his Cinnaminson home from the casino and pistol-whipped by two men who tried to steal the $2,000 he had just won.

Surveillance cameras inside the casino did capture an image of the two suspects in that October robbery.

There are also security guards inside and outside of the building, on-duty Philadelphia police officers and Pennsylvania state troopers, according to Anthony DiLacqua, the casino's director of security.

The car the suspects fled in, a 2001 silver Pontiac Bonneville with PA tags HGG 2937, was stolen in a carjacking late Thursday night in Darby Borough, Delaware County, Evers said.

Anyone with information on the recent incident is asked to call Philadelphia police at 215-686-3243 or the citywide tip line at 215-686-TIPS.