Walworth, N.Y. - Cody Molino has no trouble recalling the minutes just before closing time on November 30
th. “I just remember seeing this person in a black hoodie with a huge gun pointed right at my manager,” he said.
Cody reacted quickly – ducking behind a freezer at the Mark’s Pizzeria. He’s worked at the Walworth location on Penfield-Walworth road for two years now.
From his more secure location, he said he thought about what to do next. Ironically, it was a scenario employees had talked about earlier that day after learning a Mark’s in Webster had been robbed at gunpoint just the night before.
“I was in disbelief, I couldn’t believe it was actually happening,” said Molino. “All night we had said ‘what if she came here.”
“I yelled, ‘Oh my God they’re here,” said Edward DeMulder in a statement to police. He was the manager on duty, known to employees as Ted. “I saw a woman walk past the counter and point a black shotgun at me. She said I want the money,” said the statement.
DeMulder said he put the money down on the counter. “She asked where’s the rest of it…then yelled three or four times to get down, stay down, so I did.”
Security photos show the woman carrying the gun is Barbara Cotie- the same woman police said is responsible for the earlier robbery.
“I just went out with my hands up and she said 'Get down now,' and grabbed the gun,” said Molino. “I just went down (to my knees) nice and easy.”
Police said Cotie left with $200 from the cash register and a jar of cash containing donations for cancer research.
Cotie also faces half a dozen charges in Monroe County. Police do not expect to tie her to additional crimes.
Cotie has no prior criminal record and has provided no motive to police. Friends said she was in need of money after being scammed on the internet.
In each of the incidents, the weapon was never fired. But in each case, lives have been changed. “I wasn’t the same. I couldn’t sleep for four or five nights,” said Molino.
He added, "I was definitely afraid that she would shoot."
