SAN DIEGO — Two more armed robberies overnight were believed to be part of a series of more than 15 countywide. The gunmen are believed to be juveniles or young adults robbing liquor stores, markets, and convenience stores.
The MO is always the same, juveniles wearing masks, armed with guns, and hitting at night.
Now, an industry advocacy group, the Neighborhood Market Association, is offering a reward for information in the case. “$10,000 for any information that will lead to the arrest and conviction of these criminals,” said the group’s CEO, Arkan Somo.
Somo released surveillance video Thursday from a store in the North County showing multiple gunmen during a robbery on December 12. The owner of the store did not want the location identified.
The same gunmen are believed to be involved in the robbery series all over San Diego County.
“We will not tolerate anyone who's going to put our members and their families at risk, put our staff at risk, and most importantly our customers at risk,” said Somo.
On Wednesday night, two more stores were hit. Police said Tradewinds Liquor in Oak Park was robbed around 9:30 p.m. Five suspects entered the store, two of them had handguns, according to SDPD. They took cash from the register and liquor. The group was last seen running away from the scene.
About 10 minutes later, at 9:40 p.m., four robbers believed to be in their late teens or early 20s entered Excalibur Liquor store on Baltimore Street in La Mesa. La Mesa Police described them as possibly mixed race, African American and Hispanic. All were wearing masks and police said they fled the scene in a grey, 4-door sedan.
San Diego police said 11 stores have been in recent weeks in their city. “We believe that these are possibly juveniles under the age of 18 committing these crimes and there's guns involved. So, you have that mix of a group of people committing armed robberies, several over the course of a short period of time,” said Lt. Adam Sharki with SDPD.
Sharki said tipsters can remain anonymous by calling San Diego Crime Stoppers.
WATCH RELATED: String of armed robberies under investigation by SDPD