FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM) -- Police are investigating two armed robberies that happened in less than a week.
Fayetteville Police are searching for two suspects following an armed robbery Tuesday night (Oct. 24).
Sergeant Anthony Murphy of the Fayetteville Police Department said that shortly before 10 p.m., two armed suspects robbed the Dollar General on Garland Avenue, held a clerk at gunpoint and demanded money, before fleeing from the store in an unknown direction with an undisclosed amount of money.
This makes the second armed robbery in Fayetteville in less than a week, according to Fayetteville police.
The Valero on North Crossover was also robbed at gunpoint during the past Friday (Oct. 20). Police said the suspect fired one shot, but no one was injured.
Murphy said it is possible these two cases could be connected.
“Spikes that occur in crimes like armed robbery and violent crimes usually can be attributed to certain people moving to town. The criminal element that moves here from a different place and brings their trade with them,” he said.
He said if you are robbed, just be the best witness you can be.
“Do what they say, don`t get hurt and try to remember details of the person that is committing the crime. Do they have tattoos? (Does) something... stand out,” he remarked.
Murphy said that once it gets cold outside, robberies tend to decrease. However, it's projected that there may possibly be an increase in robberies reported in 2017 than in 2016.
“In 2016 we had 61 total robberies and year to date in 2017 we`ve had 59. So that`s estimated to be around 79 if it keeps at that trend.”
Another armed robbery was reported on the University of Arkansas campus, Tuesday (Oct. 24). Wendell Foster was arrested in connection. He was released from jail the following day.
Foster, 21, was arrested in connection with carrying certain prohibited weapons, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia -- all misdemeanors.
Someone reported the incident as an armed robbery, but through investigation, police determined no armed robbery occurred. An alert was sent out to confirm that a suspect was arrested.
