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Tonya Papanikolas reporting It was a busy night for Salt Lake City police. They're investigating three armed robberies, all in relatively close proximity to each other.
The robberies happened downtown in a span of 10 hours. Are they related or is it just a coincidence? Police are now trying to piece everything together and find the suspects.
Police told me they're chasing down some leads, but so far, they haven't caught any of the suspects.
Right now there's nothing to indicate any of these crimes were connected. But they happened relatively close together, both in proximity and time.
The first robbery was yesterday at La Fiesta Hispanic food market near 1255 W. 500 North. A man, about 5'4'' 130 lbs, came into the store and demanded money. Police say it wasn't the first time the staff had seen him.
Lt. Gary Layton, Salt Lake Police Dept.: "Had been in earlier shopping. He came back in. He said in Spanish that this was a robbery and produced a gun and pointed it at the clerk in the market."
The man took off with some money, leaving in a small white car.
Then about 10:00 last night, a couple was going to their car at a parking lot near 4th south and 4th East when a car pulled up behind them. The passenger got out and pointed a gun at them, asking for their wallet and purse.
Sgt. Chuck Gilbert, Salt Lake Police Department: "He got into their car, took the laptop computer, shuffled through some other stuff, then he got back in the car and they left."
The couple got a license plate number. It turns out the car had been stolen earlier in the day. Police are still trying to track down the car and the suspects.
A couple hours later, a third robbery. Again at a business; this time a Domino's pizza store on 6th North. A man went in and pulled a gun on the clerk, demanding money. When he got the money out of the till, he took off running.
This was actually the second robbery at a Domino's in the last week. The other one happened at a West Valley Domino's. Some of the circumstances do seem similar with these two incidents. Police told me it's possible these two are connected.
