Detectives say liquor stores and drug stores have been targeted by robbers at a high rate in Sacramento County in the last ten days.
Five men wearing dark, hooded sweatshirts and masks stole cash and cigarettes from several convenience stores in the northern and southern areas of the county since November 21. The locations include a Shell station on Fair Oaks Boulevard and an AM/PM on Marconi Avenue.
Sacramento County Sheriff's Sergeant Shaun Hampton says the robbers have used two vehicles: a gray Ford Taurus and a gray Dodge Stratus.
"That vehicle has something very distinct about it. It has a broken rear passenger-side window. The window's covered in tape or plastic."
Neither car has license plates.
One of the suspects is heavy-set and wears a black hoodie with camouflage sleeves. Another suspect has a hoodie with american flags at the base and patches on the arms.
In Citrus Heights, surveillance video shows three robbers with hoodies but no masks stole pharmaceuticals and money from a Rite Aid on Monday. As they were running from the store, they knocked over an 86-year-old woman. Her heart stopped and she stopped breathing before paramedics arrived. They performed CPR and she's in critical condition at a local hospital.
Citrus Heights Lieutenant Dave Gutierrez says the same three suspects with the same clothes earlier entered -but did not rob- a Walgreens pharmacy in the Del Paso Heights area.
“They were described as casing the store. However, they left the store without committing any crimes," Gutierrez says. "We believe the reason for that is that pharmacy within that Walgreens has bandit barriers which are similar to what you see in banks and they prevents people from being able to jump the counter."
Rite Aid has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
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