Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 11, 1995                   TAG: 9507110054
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

POLICE THINK SAME MAN HIT 2 STORES

At 5:08 a.m. Sunday, a clerk at the Uni-Mart at 1115 Main St. S.W. reported that a man had pulled a steel pipe from his pants and demanded money. The clerk refused to give the man money, and the suspect fled on foot.

At 5:17, the clerk at the 7-Eleven at 1410 Grandin Road S.W. reported that a man of similar description entered the store and said he was going to rob the clerk. The man said he had a gun, but no weapon was displayed. The clerk opened the cash register. The man grabbed some money and fled.

In another incident, a 31-year-old Northwest Roanoke woman reported that a man driving a light-blue Ford Maverick forced her into his car at gunpoint Friday night.

Roanoke police gave this account: The woman was walking along the 800 block of McDowell Avenue Northwest about 9:10 p.m., when a man asked if she needed a ride. She refused, and the man followed her until they reached a secluded area in the same block.

The man pulled a handgun and ordered the woman into his car. The man exposed himself, then demanded that the woman have sex with him. She refused, and the man threw her out of the car. She was not sure where she was released.