Three separate armed-robbery incidents in the past three days - including one in daylight - have Howard County police searching for four suspects.
Early yesterday morning, someone described to police as a polite, clean-cut male between 20 and 30 years old robbed the Kmart at 9200 Baltimore National Pike in Ellicott City.
Investigators said the armed man entered Kmart's office area about 1:25 a.m. He bound the five employees with duct tape, took an undetermined amount of money and fled, police said.
Although none of the employees was injured, it took them between 30 and 45 minutes to free themselves before they could call police, according to a police report.
Police said they are searching for a suspect.
On Sunday morning, two men with their faces covered tried to rob the 7-Eleven convenience store at 5700 Columbia Road in Columbia, police said. One of the men had a gun, they said.
Investigators said the clerk refused to open the cash register when the two men burst into the store just before 5:30 a.m. One of the men struck her in the face with his hand, but the two fled on foot after they were unable to open the cash register, police said.
One of the men was described to police as wearing a plaid button-up shirt, a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt, a dark ski mask and gloves.
The other was described as wearing light-colored pants, a red bandana over his face, a winter cap pulled down over his face and gloves.
Police have not arrested anyone in connection with the attempted robbery.
The daytime robbery occurred about 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Normandy Liquors at 8400 Baltimore National Pike, police said.
A male with a thin build displayed a handgun while making a purchase and demanded money from the employee working the register, according to police reports.
After the employee handed over an unknown amount of money, the robber fled on foot in an unknown direction, police said.
Police said they are searching for a suspect.
Police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said it is not unusual to see two or three robberies in the county over the course of a weekend.
"Many weekends we have no robberies at all, but sometimes we'll have three at once," she said. "There really is no rhyme or reason to it."
There have been 191 robberies in Howard County this year, up from 164 last year.
But Llewellyn noted that the number of robberies in 2001 is lower than the average number over the past six years. As of 2000, Howard's five-year average for robberies was 210.
