Two tough-talking, shotgun-carrying masked men are believed to have methodically struck a number of Howard County stores in recent days, according to county police, who are offering a $3,000 reward for information leading to their arrest and conviction.
Police are looking for two men, each with a medium build, who wore dark clothing and spoke and acted aggressively during the three robberies, which occurred within 10 days of one another.
During the most recent robbery, at 10 p.m. Monday, two men ordered two employees at the Food Mart in the 6800 block of Cradlerock Way in Columbia to open the store's cash register. One of the men grabbed an undisclosed amount of cash and both fled on foot, according to a statement released by police Tuesday afternoon.
The second robbery happened early Saturday when two men entered the Royal Farms store in the 4200 block of Montgomery Road in Ellicott City and demanded that a 41-year-old female employee open the cash register. The robbery occurred at 1:50 a.m., and both men fled on foot.
The first robbery that police have attributed to the pair occurred at 12:30 a.m. June 23. Two men entered the Pizza Boli's in the 7000 block of Oakland Mills Road in Columbia and confronted three employees.
The men ordered two employees, an 18-year-old man and a 30-year-old man, onto the floor and demanded that a third employee, a 46-year-old man, open the cash register.
The two men fled on foot after grabbing an undisclosed amount of cash.
