JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office says it’s investigating a series of armed robberies in the Arlington area, and police have released photos of a person involved that they’re working to track down.
Police say the surveillance photos show someone who’s pointing a gun at store employees and demanding money. They believe the crimes to have been committed by the same person.
The owner of two stores in Arlington says one of his stores alone was targeted six different times over the past three months. He said, during the same timeframe, his stores and another nearby business have seen at least 10 armed robberies.
The man spoke to News4JAX on a condition of anonymity.
“It’s been hell every night,” he said. “Once the store’s closed, we’re like, OK. Now we can just relax a little bit.”
The owner said that each time a man would walk into the store as if he were a customer and then pull out a gun, threatening the employees.
“He took one of our employees to the office, he put them on his knees. he put the gun to his head. and he made him think he’s going to execute them,” the owner said.
Of the person sought by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, investigators hope someone can recognize that person from their hoodie, backpack -- or anything else.
“We just want our employees to be safe, to have we have a very safe environment,” the owner said. “We’re very diversified. We have college students working for us, we have fathers working for us, we have single mothers working for us.”
The business owner is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Information submitted through First Coast Crime Stoppers is eligible for a reward of up to $3,000.
Anyone with information can call the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office at 904-630-0500 or email JSOCrimeTips@jaxsheriff.org. Crime Stoppers can be contacted anonymously at 1-866-845-TIPS.