Glendale convenience stores hit in serial robberies
A Brooklyn man was arrested on New Year’s Eve by Glendale police on suspicion of committing a series of convenience store robberies.
Authorities claim 21-year-old Rashid Edwards robbed four local convenience stores Dec. 30 and 31. According to Sgt. Dan Suttles, a spokesman with the Glendale Police Department, in all four robberies Edwards wore the same jeans jacket adorned with the image of a horse on the back.
Employees from each store provided the same description of the person who robbed them and each mentioned the jacket.
“He didn’t try to disguise himself at all,” Suttles said.
The first of the robberies occurred on Dec. 30 in the 500 block of West Colorado Street with the next three happening the following day in the 200 block of South Glendale Avenue, the 100 block of West Colorado Street and the 400 block of East Broadway.
The subsequent three robberies all happened in quick succession, according to Suttles.
“Within 30 minutes to an hour of each other, he was just literally going from store to store,” he said.
In each robbery Edwards would reportedly demand money from an employee. If his demands were refused he would grab at the cash register and run away.
Suttles said at no point during the robberies did Edwards physically harm anyone or use a weapon.
He said Edwards was eventually spotted by officers near one of the robbery sites and attempted to run away but was soon arrested.
While Suttles could not say how much cash was robbed from the stores he said Edwards had money on him “that matched the amounts that were taken.”
In addition to the robberies, Edwards was arrested on suspicion of elder abuse because of the age of one of the store clerks.
Once in custody he reportedly told police he committed the robberies because he had recently moved to California from New York and didn’t have any money.
Edwards is currently being held on $200,000 bail.
