Phoenix police searching for leads in multiple robberies
Nov 7, 2016, 4:30 AM
It was a night that workers at Federico’s at 45th and Peoria avenues won’t forget.
“Imagine that you’re just standing there doing your job and now you have three people pointing guns at you, yelling commands,” Phoenix Police Sgt. Jamie Rothschild said.
It was 10:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 9, 2016, when three men stormed the restaurant as a fourth waited in the getaway car — a black four door sedan. The pictures from the surveillance cameras are terrifying.
Rothschild said the fact that there were four men involved means there’s a greater chance of someone talking.
“So the potential that they told someone about this robbery is very real.”
Next, a serial armed robber is hitting check cashing stores in the West Valley — three in Phoenix and one in Glendale.
Phoenix robbery detective Rudy Castillo said the suspect appears to be casing the place first. Then he strikes.
“Either early in the morning when the people are opening the business or late as they’re closing,” Castillo said.
And the potential for violence appears to be growing. On Sept. 12, 2016 — the most recent robbery — he was waiting when a worker arrived.
“She was just going to start her shift so he ran up to her, and as she was waiting to get buzzed in, he pressed a gun to the side of her head,” Castillo said.
The man is around 30 years old, has a beard and always wears a baseball cap. He also carries a backpack and a semi-auto handgun.
