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The armed suspect, described as a black male approximately 6 feet tall with a medium build, has held up five 3rd Street businesses in the past two months and a hotel on 1st Street North, according to police reports.
Brandishing a small black handgun, the bandana-wearing bandit has pilfered local cash registers for more than $1,500, even shaking down customers for cash.
The suspect, donning dark clothes, a gray or black knit cap, dark baggy jeans and, at times, a hooded jacket and gloves, demands money from a register or a safe, orders victims to the floor at gunpoint and flees on foot, often disappearing into the night.
Most of the robberies have occurred between the hours of 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., according to police reports. In two of the hold-ups, the armed suspect was caught on tape by in-store surveillance cameras.
Jacksonville Beach police recently distributed a one-page flyer featuring eight color images of the suspect to neighborhoods in the vicinity of South 3rd Street.
The flyer reads, “Do you know who this person is? Please call First Coast Crime Stoppers! 1-800-845-8477.”
According to its website, callers to First Coast Crime Stoppers can remain anonymous and are eligible to receive a cash reward of up to $1,000 if the information given in the tip leads to an arrest. Due to the nature of the suspect’s clothing, investigators believe the gunman is not homeless and may reside in close proximity to the robberies.
Police also are not sure if the weapon the suspect brandishes is real. On surveillance video, the weapon appears to be a smaller-caliber gun, possibly a .380.
The suspect has not discharged the weapon in any of the hold-ups, but a witness at the latest robbery on Dec. 13 told police that the suspect “racked” the gun in an intimidating fashion as if he was chambering a round.
The robber also doesn’t leave any fingerprints to speak of and doesn’t take anything of value, except cash, according to police reports.
K-9 officers dispatched to the scene of at least two of the robberies were unable to locate any tracks of the suspect, police said.
Two Jacksonville men who held up the Waffle House restaurant on Beach Boulevard last Saturday are not connected to any of the previous armed robberies, police said.
The bandana-wearing armed suspects in Saturday’s Waffle House hold-up were swiftly arrested by police. Both men later confessed to the crime and to a pair of auto burglaries, according to a police report.
A summary of area armed robberies follows:
• On Tuesday, Nov. 4, an armed suspect stole $150 from a woman’s purse and $250 from a cash register at a tattoo parlor in the 400 block of 3rd Street South.
• On Friday, Nov. 7, an armed robber stole $30 from the register at Rapunzel’s Salon, located in the 300 block of 5th Avenue South.
• On Saturday, Nov. 15, an armed robber walked up to the counter of the Jax Beach Board Shop in the 500 block of 3rd Street South and pointed a gun in an employee’s face and demanded cash from the register. The suspect stuck his hands in the register and removed $400 in cash.
• On Wednesday, Nov. 26, a gunman held up the T-Mobile store at 212 3rd St. N. The suspect took an undisclosed amount of cash from two registers and $85 in cash from two customers.
• On Sunday, Nov. 30, a gunman held up the Best Western at 305 1st St. N., making off with $470 in cash, and $4 from a clerk’s purse.
• On Saturday, Dec. 13, a gunman held up Christina’s Nails at 738 3rd St. S., robbing the owner of $170 cash.