CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Police are searching for a suspect after an armed robbery Tuesday night at a Starbucks in Myers Park, and said the crime is connected to a string of similar robberies in the area within the past two weeks.
Officials with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said a man entered the Starbucks at 545 Providence Road around 6:47 p.m., robbed the store at gunpoint and ran away with cash.
No injuries were reported.
Cadi Browning works near the Starbucks and said she's thankful everyone is OK. She's said she’s surprised that such a brazen crime happened at a time when Myers Park is busy.
“I never really heard of any serious problems in this neighborhood,” Browning said.
CMPD officials said Wednesday that the suspect is believed to have been involved in a series of recent armed robberies from Charlotte businesses.
Patrick Garrivier, who was in the kitchen of his French restaurant next door to the Starbucks, said it was over by the time he figured out what had happened.
Police spent several hours talking to witnesses and collecting evidence, and it didn't take long for them to recognize that the suspect was the same man they were looking for in those five robberies scattered around the county.
Garrivier's restaurant was broken into last year.
“Just got to be real careful,” Garriver said. “We lock everything up now, the back door and everything for the safety of our employees.”
Last Monday, police said a man stormed into a Dairy Queen on Prosperity Church Road in north Charlotte and tried to rob it at gunpoint before fleeing the restaurant without any money.
[READ MORE: Gunman storms into Dairy Queen with small children inside]
The day before the Dairy Queen robbery, officials said a man went into a Papa Murphy’s on Lancaster Highway and tried to rob the business without any success.
Officials said a couple of days before the attempted robbery at Papa Murphy’s, a man entered a Smoothie King on Prosperity Road in University City, pulled a gun and robbed the business of its cash.
[PAST COVERAGE: Police still looking for man connected to two Charlotte armed robberies]
Two days before the Smoothie King incident, officials said the same man robbed the China Fun restaurant on Albemarle Road at gunpoint.
Officials said Wednesday that it appears all five of the robberies are related, based on descriptions of the suspect.
The man is described as white, about 5 feet 10 inches tall, muscular and bald. He’s believed to be in his 30s.
“This is front and center for our Armed Robbery Unit detectives right now,” CMPD spokesman Rob Tufano said. “It's a big deal whenever you have armed individuals who are robbing businesses at a clip like this.”
Anyone with information concerning these cases or the suspect is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.
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