» Sign Up For Breaking News Alerts» Like Us On Facebook» Follow Us On Twitter

The bandit responsible for the March 10-13 robbery spree wielded a black pistol while committing each of the crimes, during which he stole cash and cigarettes, according to San Diego police.

Following the most recent heist, the robber got into a struggle with a clerk and fled in an older-model maroon Chrysler Sebring, leaving behind his gun and loot in a parking lot, SDPD public-affairs Lt. Andra Brown said.

In surveillance video taken inside a Shell Station at Clairemont Mesa Boulevard and Convoy Street, a man with a black hooded sweatshirt and wearing glasses pulls a gun on a clerk and demands money.

After the clerk puts the bills on the counter, the man grabs the money but places the gun on the counter.

In a split-second, a clerk grabs the gun and points it at the man. The man is seen running out of the store, being chased by the clerk.

The victims described the thief as a roughly 6-foot-tall white man in his 40s or 50s, with a medium-to-heavy build and reddish hair and beard, possibly flecked with gray. During at least one of the crimes, he wore a red baseball cap and a dark jacket or hooded sweatshirt with the word "Viejas" on the front.

Anyone with information about the holdups is asked to call the SDPD Robbery Unit at (619) 531-2299.