Armed Robberies

Armed robberies reported at Subway, bank ATM Laurel Police responded to armed robberies at a restaurant and automated teller machine last week but have not yet made arrests in either incident. On Aug. 2, police were called to an armed robbery at the Subway in the 7400 block of Van Dusen Road. An employee told police that a man wearing gloves and with a black gun demanded money, then jumped over the counter and took an undisclosed amount of cash. In the second robbery, police said a man stepped out of his vehicle to have better access to an ATM at the Bank of America in the 9600 block of Fort Meade Road Aug. 4, when he was approached by a male with a black pocket knife.

Three Anne Arundel County teenagers were arrested Friday and charged with armed robbery and other counts when their homes in the Severn area were searched in connection with several recent armed robberies, police said. In a search of a home in the 1900 block of Arwell Court, police said they found a cell phone and basketball shoes reported taken at gunpoint in an armed robbery Tuesday, along with a man identified as the suspect in that and a May 13 armed robbery. Police said they found a cell phone taken from a victim during that armed robbery in a home in the 8500 block of Pioneer Drive, and a second suspect.

A recent series of armed robberies on college campuses has Maryland students and security personnel on high alert. At least five people were held up on three campuses last week — at knife point at Loyola University Maryland and at gunpoint at both Towson University and the Essex campus of the Community College of Baltimore County. Detective Kevin Brown, a Baltimore Police spokesman, said the incident at Loyola "does not appear to be part of a spree. " Friday about 1:40 a.m., two men obscuring their faces with white and blue bandannas approached two students in a Loyola parking lot near the 100 block of Cold Spring Lane, brandished knives and demanded the couple hand over their "money and jewelry," according to a police report.

Harford County sheriff's deputies chased a suspect who fled an armed robbery at a liquor store in the Bel Air area on Friday afternoon and later crashed his vehicle on Route 40 in the Joppa area. The suspect, since identified only as a black male, rolled over a white SUV several times after clipping another vehicle turning at Route 40 and Pine Avenue, Eddie Hopkins, a spokesperson for the Harford County Sheriff's Office said. Hopkins said shortly after 4 p.m. that details about the crime and the ensuing chase are still being gathered.

A band of heavily armed robbers, and possibly one or more copycat groups, have held up more than two dozen supermarkets and fast-food restaurants since October. In addition to looting store safes and cash registers, they have taken money from diners.Since details of the robberies and police alerts have circulated, do you find yourself changing your shopping or dining habits in fear of being victimized by these gunmen?To give your answer, call SUNDIAL at 783-1800 (or 268-7736 in Anne Arundel County)

Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley set another crime-fighting goal yesterday, saying that he wanted to halve the number of armed robberies by the end of next year. O'Malley's comments came at a special meeting of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, the agency attempting to reform the city justice system. The mayor, who ran on a tough-on-crime platform, is using as his baseline the number of armed robberies in 1999 - the year he took office. That year, 7,595 such crimes occurred. He wants that number reduced by 50 percent by the end of 2002.

Maryland State Police are seeking information about two armed robberies Tuesday night in South Carroll, one at a dry cleaning establishment, the second at a Sykesville gasoline station. Based upon the proximity of the businesses and similar descriptions of the robber, police believe the robberies were committed by the same man, said Lt. Terry L. Katz, Westminster barracks commander. The first incident occurred about 7:30 p.m. at Admiral Cleaners in the 6300 block of Sykesville Road in Eldersburg, police said.

County police say a man who escaped from police custody in Septembermay be responsible for as many as 10 armed robberies in the last twomonths.Detectives have stepped up their search for Anthony JamesFreeland, 20, whom they say has robbed five businesses in North County, said Sgt. George Johnson, head of the robbery squad.Johnson said witnesses identified Freeland as the man who robbed Sunset Liquors in Glen Burnie Oct. 31, a Subway restaurant in Maryland City Oct. 30, a Subway restaurant in Hanover Oct. 22, and the Subway restaurant in Sun Valley Oct. 30."

A 22-year-old East Columbia man wanted in several armed robberies in Montgomery County was arrested Saturday night after police found him returning to his home and briefly chased his vehicle, Howard County police said.Derwayne Loneil Pitt, of the 9300 block of Indian Camp Road in the Oakland Mills Village, was taken to the Southern District Police Station in Scaggsville Saturday for processing, police said.He was turned over to Montgomery County authorities, who charged him with four counts of armed robbery and handgun violations, a Montgomery County police spokeswoman said yesterday.

A spate of armed robberies in North Baltimore is taking its toll on businesses and neighbors in the Roland Park area and leaving city police wishing they had more officers on the street."

A 23-year-old man and his 4-year-old daughter were shot while sitting in a vehicle in Rosedale on Monday night, according to Baltimore County Police. Both sustained non-life-threatening injuries, and were driven to Franklin Square Hospital by a family member, police said. The hospital notified police about 8:17 p.m., and officers were told the shooting occurred near the intersection of Old Home and Meadow roads, police said. A third person, the driver, was also in the vehicle at the time of the shooting but was unharmed, police said.

Police are looking for a man who robbed an Edgewood 7-Eleven early Saturday. The suspect, a white man with light brown hair approximately 6 feet tall and 250 pounds, entered the store around 4:45 a.m. and displayed a knife to the clerk before taking an undisclosed amount of money from the cash register and an assortment of cigarettes, according to the Harford County Sheriff's Office. He left the convenience store in the 1000 block of Gateway Road on foot. The suspect had facial hair and wore a light gray, zippered hoodie, a black or blue baseball cap with a flat brim, blue jeans and black sneakers, police said.

UPDATE March 29: On Friday, the Harford County Sheriff's office released surveillance footage from a March 21 armed robbery at a Bel Air Royal Farms store. The video shows the suspect entering the store, collecting an undisclosed amount of cash from the counter, and then leaving the store. The Sheriff's office suspects this incident is connected to two other armed robberies, one the day before, a third the following day. Original report from March 23 is below: A third Harford County armed robbery in three days Friday night has investigators for the Harford County Sheriff's Office considering the likelihood all three are related.

An investigation into an armed robbery in Dundalk on Monday morning briefly alarmed parents of children who attend a nearby school, resulting in an officer responding to the school to brief the principal on what happened. Sister Irene Pryle, principal of Our Lady of Hope St. Luke School, said the school was not affected and did not go into lockdown, as was rumored on social media. Officers had responded to an alley between Kavanagh and Kentley roads off Church Road shortly after 7:30 a.m. for a report of an armed robbery, police said.

A third person has been arrested in connection with a November armed robbery in Aberdeen. Jerrard Christopher Wilmore, 21, who has addresses in the first block of Church Green Avenue in Aberdeen and the first block of Collins Drive in Perryville, was arrested Thursday. He is charged in the Nov. 12 robbery of Northside Liquors, in the 200 block of North Philadelphia Boulevard, with armed robbery, robbery, first- and second-degree assault, use of a handgun in commission of a felony and theft less than $1,000.

Laurel police report felonies, arrests and property crimes. Prince George's County police report violent crimes and property crimes. Howard County police report major crimes, break-ins and car thefts. City of Laurel Fourth Street, 14900 block, Feb. 11. Theft. Fort Meade Road, 200 block, Feb. 11. Theft. Fenwick Court, 8100 block, Feb. 11. Theft. Spring House Lane, 9300 block, Feb. 12. Theft from motor vehicle. Shiloh Court, 14700 block, Feb. 13. Theft from motor vehicle.

Baltimore County police are looking for two men responsible for a string of armed robberies in the Catonsville area and Southwest Baltimore. The robbers brandished sawed-off shotguns and handguns and took jewelry and cash from their victims.The six robberies occurred Friday and early Saturday within a few miles of each other, near Frederick Road in Baltimore County and the city.In each incident, two gunmen approached their victims on the street and ordered them to lie down. They rifled pockets and purses and searched their victims for cash, jewelry, and other personal belongings before fleeing.

Howard County police are investigating two armed robberies at the Oakland Mills Village Center in which masked men robbed citizens of cash and other belongings Friday morning.No one was injured. Police believe the same two robbers are responsible for both incidents in the 9600 block of White Acre Road in Columbia.The first robbery occurred about 5:40 a.m. Friday at the automated teller machine outside First National Bank. Two men -- one armed with a handgun with a long barrel -- forced a man using the machine to make two cash withdrawals, police said.

Patterson Mill Middle and High schools south of Bel Air were briefly put on lockdown Monday while Harford County sheriff's deputies searched the area for a bank robber whose description is similar to one in an early November bank robbery. The robber remained at large as of Tuesday afternoon, the Harford County Sheriff's Office said. Monday's holdup was the second armed bank robbery in Harford since Thursday. In addition, a post office was robbed at gunpoint last Wednesday. Around 11:08 a.m. Monday, a white man in his 40s entered the Sovereign Bank in the 1800 block of Emmorton Road in the Emmorton – Bel Air South community.