SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Authorities Friday sought two men who attempted to rob a Paradise Hills-area liquor store at gunpoint, and may be connected to similar failed hold-ups in La Mesa and Spring Valley.
Shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday, a gunman walked behind the counter and demanded money from an employee at Apollo Liquor on Reo Drive near Albemarle Street while an accomplice waited by the door, San Diego police Officer Robert Heims said. The employee was having trouble opening the cash drawer and the suspects fled shortly afterward.
Police described one of the suspects as about 5 feet 9 and 150 pounds wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt, dark pants and a red bandanna over his face. The second was thin and roughly 5 feet 6. He was wearing jeans, black and white shoes and a black sweatshirt with the hood cinched around his face.
La Mesa police said one of the suspects may have been involved in a robbery attempt about 30 minutes earlier at Eastridge Liquor at the corner of University and Dale avenues.
A clerk approached the suspect from behind as he was coming back in after throwing out the trash, but ran off when he saw that the suspect had pulled a gun, according to La Mesa police Sgt. Jim Huggins. The suspect left without taking anything.
La Mesa police described the would-be robber as about 6 feet tall and wearing a dark blue or black hooded jacket turned inside out over a plaid shirt, with black jeans and black shoes.
Around 9:30 p.m. Thursday, a third robbery attempt was reported in the 8900 block of Jamacha Road in Spring Valley, according to the sheriff's department. The suspect in that attempt was described only as a person wearing a mask.
