HANCOCK COUNTY — Police are investigating two early-morning robberies of gas stations in Hancock County in which attendants were threatened at gunpoint.
Detectives are trying to learn whether the incidents, which occurred within an hour of each other starting at about 3 a.m. on Wednesday, April 29, are related.
Capt. Robert Harris, public information officer with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department, said a gunman and at least two accomplices entered the Circle K store, 2224 North County Road 600W, and put a handgun to the clerk’s head and held her head down. The group escaped with an estimated $100 in cash.
Investigators believe another person was parked in a getaway vehicle close by, Harris said.
“They walked in, demanded money, got the money and left on foot (heading southbound), we believe back to their getaway car,” Harris said.
Then, about an hour later, at 4:05 a.m., police received a call from another convenience store about nine miles east of the first incident, about another armed robbery.
The second incident happened at the Speedway store, 110 Opportunity Parkway, Greenfield. The store is near the Interstate 70/State Road 9 interchange at the entrance to Progress Park.
Chief Jeff Rasche of the Greenfield Police Department said detectives are probing whether the two robberies are related. Both targets, located at I-70 interchanges, allowed for easy escapes.
Rasche called the incidents extremely “scary” for the innocent people involved. In the second robbery, the assailants came in, pointed a gun at the attendant and were very physical with the female clerk, forcing her to the ground. An undetermined amount of cash was taken.
“You don’t see something like that a lot,” Rasche said. “Normally you see someone come in, point a gun and say ‘give me the money,’ so that’s very concerning to me.”
Neither victim required treatment, but the physical nature of the encounters should put the community on guard, law enforcement said.
They’ve alerted other businesses, and gas station/convenience stores in the county should be on the lookout for anything suspicious.
“We want businesses to know this is going on in our community, and if they see something suspicious in the early-morning hours to call us,” Rasche said.
The incidents are a good reminder to business owners to make sure their alarms and video systems are working properly, officials said.
Anyone with information on either robbery is asked to call officials at the Sheriff’s Department, 317-477-4400 or at the Greenfield Police Department, 317-477-4410.
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Anyone with information on either robbery is asked to call the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department at 317-477-4400; or the Greenfield Police Department at 317-477-4410.
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