This Pasco robber made off with cash and cigarettes — and wished the clerk a ‘nice day’

A Pasco man allegedly wished a store clerk a “nice day” after taking about $600 and 30 packs of cigarettes at gunpoint.

Enrique Banda-Garcia refused to say anything to Pasco police detectives before his arrest on the robbery five days later.

But witness reports, along with evidence found in the 24-year-old’s home, put Banda-Garcia inside the Xpress Mart on July 8, according to court documents.

Banda-Garcia now faces an Oct. 14 trial in Franklin County Superior Court after pleading innocent last week to first-degree robbery with a deadly weapon.

He was ineligible at the time of the robbery to possess a gun due to a prior conviction, and has been ordered to surrender all weapons as part of the case, documents show.

He remains locked up on $100,000 bail.

Banda-Garcia is accused of walking into the 1724 W. Clark Ave. store at 9:20 p.m. while wearing a backpack and holding a pistol-grip shotgun.

A clerk told police he was helping another customer at the counter when the suspect yelled, “Hurry the f--- up, put the money in the bag.”

The clerk said he immediately removed the cash drawer and dumped all of the bills and coins into the robber’s backpack.

The robber then instructed the clerk to give him the entire stock of red-and-white Marlboro cigarettes behind the counter, court documents said. Each box reportedly is valued at $10.

After his demands were met, the suspect told the clerk, “Thank you, have a nice day,” before leaving, documents said.

Surveillance video showed Banda-Garcia was driven away in a maroon Volvo.

Detectives were later able to identify the suspect based on his distinctive hooded sweater, Nike tennis shoes and gardening gloves worn during the robbery, court documents said.

While investigating a domestic assault the evening of July 11, two witnesses told police they believed Banda-Garcia was the Xpress Mart robber because his build, height and weight match the description that police posted on their Facebook page.

The witnesses also said Banda-Garcia owns a burgundy Volvo S60 and he recently bought a shotgun with a camouflage pattern from a Tri-Cities pawn shop, documents said.

The Volvo was seized from Banda-Garcia’s apartment complex after his arrest on July 13.

Detectives Jesse Romero and Corey Smith tried to speak with Banda-Garcia while he was in jail on an unrelated case, but he declined to make a statement.