PORTLAND — While state officials boast of dropping crime rates, police in Maine’s largest city are investigating a rash of armed robberies occurring just days apart.
On July 15, a couple reported they were robbed by a pair of men who threatened them with handguns in a restaurant parking lot on Forest Avenue, police said. They said a cellphone and a purse were taken in that heist before the suspects fled on foot.
Two days later, a man was reported to have pulled a handgun on another man in the Hannaford parking lot on Forest Avenue. The suspect demanded the victim’s cellphone, police said, before fleeing.
An hour after the Hannaford heist, police said the same suspect was reported to have approached a woman in the parking lot of a nursing home on Baxter Boulevard. In that robbery, police said, the victim was ordered out of her car. The culprit drove away, although the car was recovered later that night.
More recently, at 9 p.m. Tuesday, a robbery was reported at the Family Dollar store on Riverside Street, where police said a pair of men entered the store armed with handguns and demanded cash.
An hour earlier, police had closed down a section of Popham Street while searching for a man who reportedly pulled a gun on another person on nearby Taft Street.
Each of the robberies remained under investigation on Wednesday. Police asked that anyone with information call 207-874-8533 or 207-874-8584. Police also invited anonymous tips at www.portlandmaine.gov/202/Police.
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