Akron police detectives and crime analysts are investigating several armed robberies in the past few months — including two this week at Family Dollar stores — to determine if they are related.
The robbers had handguns, wore dark clothing and most hid their faces with ski masks, bandannas or other types of covering, Akron Police Lt. Rick Edwards said.
The robberies occurred at retail establishments such as discount stores and phone stores, he said Wednesday. He did not know the number of robberies involved.
“We’re going back about three months to look at all the robberies [at the retail places] to see if it appears to be that the same suspects may be involved,” Edwards said. “At this point, we cannot say” whether they are related.
Edwards said detectives and crime analysts are looking at surveillance video and studying witnesses’ descriptions of the robbers.
On Wednesday, police reported that two armed robbers — including one who wore a black hooded sweatshirt with “Family First” emblazoned on it — took an undisclosed amount of cash from the Family Dollar store at 19 N. Arlington St. near East Market Street.
Store employees told police the ski-masked gunmen entered the store around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The incident followed an armed robbery Monday night at a Family Dollar store at 1750 S. Main St. near West Wilbeth Road in Firestone Park. In the holdup on North Arlington, one robber placed a handgun against a store clerk’s stomach and demanded money, employees told police.
One of the robbers was described as a 5-foot-5 to 5-foot-7, thin, light-complexioned black man. He wore a black hooded sweatshirt, black pants and black shoes. The other was described as a 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-8 black man. He wore the black hooded sweatshirt with “Family First” in white letters on the back, and blue sweat pants with a white stripe down the outside.
Concerning the Monday incident, employees at the South Main store told police that the robber — wearing a black ski mask and all dark clothing — entered the store shortly after 10 p.m. He had a handgun and demanded money. The robber fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.
The robber was described as a 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-11 black man with black hair.
Anyone with information about either robbery is asked to call Akron police detectives at 330-375-2490.
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com. You can follow her @KatieByardABJ on Twitter or on Facebook at www.facebook.com.