ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, June 5, 1996 TAG: 9606050051
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI
A robbery at a Northwest Roanoke house Monday night has some characteristics similar to a series of armed robberies throughout the city since last fall.
Police stopped short of linking the most recent robbery to at least six in which masked men broke into residences and took money. In Monday's incident, the robbers did not wear masks.
About 11:15 p.m., six armed men broke down the door to a home on Panorama Avenue Northwest, police said. They told an 18-year-old woman at the house to get down or she would die. The robbers also threatened to rape her. They continually asked where the money was and took a gold chain and ring from the woman. Police said the robbers then hit her above the right eye with a gun. She was not seriously injured.
Since February, masked robbers have broken into four Northwest Roanoke homes: on Grayson Avenue, Signal Hill Avenue, King Arthur Court and Lafayette Boulevard. The robbers shot and wounded a man during the incident on Lafayette Boulevard.
In November, three men wearing ski masks broke into two homes - one on Day Avenue Southwest and one on Morton Avenue Southeast.
No arrests have been made in any of the incidents.
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