Police: Suspect linked to multiple armed robberies
PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - Philadelphia police believe the same suspect is responsible for multiple armed robberies.
Workers at the Texas Chicken and Burger restaurant on Kensington Avenue are still shaken after a masked robber jumped the counter with a big knife and demanded money. The incident was caught on camera.
"He jump over the counter and he has a big knife,"one employee told FOX 29."He just tell us like to open the register and give me all the money."
"He's not in there very long, maybe 20 to 30 seconds and he's out," Lt. Robert Brockenbrough of East Detectives said.
The mid-afternoon robbery is just one of seven knifepoint stick-ups police believe are tied to the same suspect. Three in the Kensington, Port Richmond area, three more in Northeast Philly and possibly one in Cheltenham, according to police.
"It's an urgency in catching this guy before he escalates or before somebody gets hurt," Lt. Brockenbrough told FOX 29.
"He came around the counter and he put his hands in the cash register. The one girl held him, he took the knife to her," one employee told FOX 29, asking not to be identified.
An employee at Jimmy's House of Pizza asked us to conceal her identity after the knife-wielding bandit walked into the takeout restaurant right before closing, flashed a big knife at three employees and held the place up.
"I'm pregnant so I'm like let him take what he wants. Doesn't matter to me. I ain't risking my kid for it," she said.
The suspect has been caught on surveillance video several times, but he's wearing a mask and gloves. He was wearing a distinctive hoodie in at least one robbery. Police and employees at the store that were held up are hoping for a quick arrest.
No one has been hurt in the robberies. According to police, he has also been wearing yellow construction gloves.
Anyone with information can contact East Detectives or Northeast Detectives.