Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 19, 1993 TAG: 9311190129
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The victims in both holdups were knocked in the back of the head by a man with a similar description.
The getaway vehicle from the first robbery was found about a mile from where the suspect in the second robbery hailed a cab.
Police said the first robbery occured at the Chevron Express Stop in the 500 block of Orange Avenue shortly after 3 a.m.
A clerk told police that a man had approached him carrying a bottle of orange juice. Without saying a word, the man hit the clerk in the head with the bottle, knocking him to the floor.
The robber then opened the cash register, removed the money and fled.
About the same time, a patrol officer spotted a car leaving the rear of the nearby Holiday Inn. The car later was found abandoned at the intersection of Burrell Street and Gandy Drive Northwest, while a cap belonging to the suspect was found in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn.
The owner of the getaway car had reported to police Nov. 17 that he loaned the car to someone who never returned it.
A little over three hours later, Freddie Daniel Taylor, a driver for Yellow Cab Co., reported he also had been robbed.
Taylor said he picked up a man at Clover Avenue Northeast, about a mile from where the getaway vehicle from the first robbery had been parked.
Taylor, 42, said the man requested a ride to an address on Hunt Avenue Northwest. When they arrived, the man asked Taylor to come inside and help him retrieve some items.
Once inside, the man demanded money and robbed Taylor.
The man then forced the cab driver back into his car, held what felt like a gun to the back of the driver's head, and ordered him to drive to 10th Street Northwest.
Once they had arrived on 10th Street, the man beat Taylor in the head, forced him out of the cab and drove away.
Police later found the abandoned cab.
by CNB