Serial robbers hit all over Tucson
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Posted 9:47 PM 9/27/2012 : Serial robbers hit all over Tucson
TUCSON - Police believe 3 men are responsible for at least 8 armed robberies in the past few months.
One suspect robbed 5 businesses at gunpoint since July. The most recent was a pawn shop near Oracle and Prince Roads, according to the Tucson Police Department.
Ralph Hastie was working at the shop when it happened.
"You cannot help but be impressed when someone is pointing a gun at you from 3 feet away," Hastie said.
In an unrelated string of robberies, 2 men hit 3 places in about an hour, Monday, September 24.
Before 10 p.m., they started outside a Department of Economic Security office near 22nd Street and Craycroft Road. The men pointed guns at 3 victims who ran away. They caught one of them, kicked and beat him and stole his wallet and iPod.
About 20 minutes later, they entered a side door at El Rio Health Center near Golf Links and Kolb Roads. One suspect hit a victim in the head with a handgun. They got away with money and another iPod.
About a half hour later, they went in the back door of a Pizza Hut near Speedway Boulevard and Swan Road. At gunpoint, they ordered all the employees to get on the ground. A suspect hit an employee in the head with a gun. They got away with money.
Business owners like Deb Santos at Frankie's Cheesesteaks worry they might be next.
"This whole thing is really uncomfortable," she said.
They have security cameras, panic buttons and keep the business well lit. But they never feel too safe.
"Not at all," Santos said. "I don't think you can say that for any place in life that, ‘I am completely safe.'"
