MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – It was just around 4 a.m. when the SuperAmerica at 60th Street and Portland Avenue in Minneapolis became the first target.
Police say a man, pointed a pistol at the clerk and demanded cash. From there, the robber headed into Uptown and hit a 24-hour Walgreens store. His third holdup was just minutes later, at another SuperAmerica gas station across the street at 25th and Hennepin. There would be two more robberies before the spree was finished.
“The loss in all five was cash,” Minneapolis Police Commander Catherine Johnson said. “There was also a small amount of prescription narcotics taken in the Walgreen’s robbery.”
Store surveillance cameras took photos of a black male who appeared heavyset and was between 20 and 30 years old. He was seen holding a black semi-automatic pistol with two hands and wore a dark coat and pants with a black knit hat and a dark face mask.
“At one location, that was something that drew attention to him. He never did remove the ski mask as he was moving through the store,” Johnson said.
After robbing another SuperAmerica station at 22nd and Lyndale Avenue South, his spree came to an end at 43rd and East Lake Street. It was at the robber’s fourth and final SuperAmerica station where shoppers like Lindsay Bachman expressed their fears.
“That’s kind of scary. I didn’t know that stuff happens here,” Bachman said.
“I wouldn’t expect it over here because it’s a quiet neighborhood,” shopper Damien Towne added. “Now that it has happened here, I will be a little more concerned going there by myself.”
That’s why police want him stopped before he can strike again.
“That’s five places in the same city. I’d be concerned if he continues that activity,” Commander Johnson said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Sgt. Walter Carlson with the Minneapolis Police Department robbery unit at 673-673-3856.
