Chapel Hill police: One man behind two armed robberies

Chapel Hill, N.C. — Investigators believe that one man armed with a shotgun might have committed two robberies within 10 minutes of each other on Sunday evening.

Two men were walking south in an alley near the Varsity Theatre toward East Franklin Street around 6:30 p.m., police said. A man approached them, produced a shotgun and demanded money, officers said. The victims said the robber fled north toward East Rosemary Street.

Detectives said that about 10 minutes later, a woman was in her vehicle using at automated-teller machine at a Wachovia Bank at University Mall, at South Estes Drive and U.S. Highway 15-501.

She told police a car pulled up beside her, and a man got out of the car and approached her vehicle. She said he produced a shotgun and demanded money.

The two crimes scenes are less than 2.5 miles apart.

In both crimes, witnesses described the assailant as a black man, between 20 and 25 years old. He had a thin build and stood about 6 feet tall. He wore a black baggy shirt and dark-colored, baggy pants. In the second robbery, the victim said he wore a baseball cap.

He drove away from the ATM robbery in a four-door, older-model 1980s sedan. The vehicle was described as beat-up and either covered with dull, gray primer or was unpainted.

Anyone with information regarding these incidents was asked to call the Chapel Hill Police Department at 919-968-2760 or Crime Stoppers at 919-226-CRIME.

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