Minneapolis robberies off the charts

Minneapolis will finish the year as it started - with another spike in violent crime. Channel 5 Eyewitness News reports a series of armed robberies on businesses, including the one on Christmas Eve Rambix wrote about that resulted in an attempted murder of the store clerk at the Longfellow Family Food grocery store, "Minneapolis searches for 3 serial robbers".

The Minneapolis Police Department is asking for the public’s help in identifying suspects in a series of business robberies. Robbers with similar descriptions, method of operation, and weapons, have hit at least eleven businesses over the last month, according to police.

No fooling around here, folks, these are very bad men.

Police say the suspects have fired their guns in several other robberies and are considered to armed and extremely dangerous. The three suspects are described as:

- Black Male, 17-22, light complexion, thin build, clean-shaven, 5-8 to 5-9, black clothing and a black bandana.

- Black Male, 20-25, dark complexion, medium build, 5-10 to 6-0, clean-shaven, black hat, white, pantyhose-like face covering, black hat and black clothing.

- Black Male, 18-22, 5-8, medium build, dark complexion, clean-shaven.

The following vehicle descriptions have been seen at or near the scene of several of these robberies. The vehicles are described as:

-Red or maroon, 2-dr. vehicle, possibly a Honda-type vehicle.

-Maroon Chevrolet Caprice, MN license similar to PME-621.

Anyone with any information is encouraged to call Minneapolis Police.

Call the police, call Rambix, or call mayor Ryback out from under his desk, but call someone.

Here's the WCCO TV report, "Police: Serial Armed Robbers Targeting Stores".

Police believe the same three suspects have been holding up businesses since Dec. 4, targeting mostly mom-and-pop grocery stores located between Central Avenue NE and 42nd Avenue South.

These criminals act as if they have nothing to lose, which brings the danger to a new level:

"It's almost a takeover-type robbery that's going on," said Mike Fossum of the Minneapolis Police Department. "They come in hard. Sometimes they fire their guns just for added effect."

People are worried and considering arming up:

Izzy Sallam said he's considering getting a gun after his store, Market Express, was held up for about $300 on Dec. 11.

"We're working hard to make our money here," Sallam said. "It's not easy for us just to step in (over) a few hundred bucks. That's not fair."

Hang in there, Mr. Sallam. We'll get these guys.



Here are two security camera photos from the WCCO TV web site: