Crime & Courts

Police: Anchorage sees 3 unrelated armed robberies in less than 12 hours

A trio of Anchorage businesses were hit by armed robbers between Monday evening and early Tuesday, but police say they don't appear connected.

Here is how police spokeswoman Renee Oistad relayed the events:

At 6:24 p.m. Monday, police were called to Domino's Pizza at 3024 Mountain View Drive. A man pointed a handgun at an employee and demanded money from the cash register. The robber ordered the employee to lie on the ground, which he did. The suspect was described as a black man in his late 20s to early 30s, about 5 foot 10 inches tall and wearing dark clothing. His face was covered.

Three hours later, a Yellow Cab driver reported being robbed in the Raspberry Road area. The driver had picked up three white men at a downtown restaurant. When the cab was in the area of Dunkirk Drive and Casper Court, one of the men pulled a handgun. The men took money and some other items from the cab driver.

Police said all three men were in their early 20s. One was wearing a blue plaid shirt and jeans. The other two wore fleece hoodies.

The third recent robbery happened before 5 a.m. Tuesday at the Holiday gas station at 8803 Jewel Lake Road, according to police. A white male and a black male walked in. The white man pointed a handgun at an employee, who was ordered to open the cash drawer. The black suspect took money from the register. Then the white suspect noticed a second employee on a cordless phone. The employee ended up on the floor and the suspect hit the employee on the head with the gun, then stomped the phone.

Both suspects ran off.

ADVERTISEMENT

Police say the white suspect was described as being tall and skinny. He wearing a black hoodie, bandana and blue jeans.  The black male was described as being shorter with tattooed forearms. He was wearing a bandana, black shirt and blue jeans.

In all three cases, police tried to track suspects with a police dog, but weren't able to find them.

The different suspect descriptions indicate the robberies are not related, Oistad said.

The robberies are under investigation, police said.

Lisa Demer

Lisa Demer was a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Dispatch News. Among her many assignments, she spent three years based in Bethel as the newspaper's western Alaska correspondent. She left the ADN in 2018.

ADVERTISEMENT