Same man suspected in robberies

MUSCLE SHOALS - Police are looking for a man accused of committing two armed robberies within five hours.

Muscle Shoals police said the robberies took place at Muscle Shoals Home Video on Second Street and outside SunTrust Bank on Woodward Avenue.

Capt. Lanny Coan said the suspect in both robberies is described as a white man, about 5 feet 10 inches tall and "very skinny."

Coan said in both cases the robber was wearing a hooded, long sleeve gray sweatshirt, a red ball cap and a black cloth across his face. He was armed with a long-handle hunting knife.

The first robbery took place just after 9:30 p.m. Tuesday at Muscle Shoals Home Video. The man walked in holding the knife in his left hand and confronted the clerk, police said.

"He told her to empty the cash register, and he wasn't going to hurt anybody," Coan said. "He then pulled the knife out to show her."

Coan said once the robber had the money, he walked behind the building to an alley.

Around 2:10 a.m. Wednesday, Coan said a woman was robbed while trying to make a bank deposit at SunTrust on Woodward Avenue.

"The woman pulled up to the night deposit, and she said before she could get out of the car, the man appeared," Coan said.

He said the victim told officers that the robber walked up to the car and told her to stay in the car and she wouldn't get hurt.

"Everything about the (robber) was the same, from the clothing to the knife. The only exception was he was holding the knife in his right hand this time," Coan said.

Reports indicate the robber demanded the money and the woman's cell phone, which was pink with a blue and white cover.

Coan said the woman gave the robber the money and the cell phone, and the man then left, walking behind the car.

"As soon as he was out of sight, she drove to the police station," Coan said.

Coan said people at McDonald's, which is across the street from the bank, saw someone matching the robber's description walking across the parking lot a short time before the robbery.

"We don't know if he had a car parked somewhere or he was on foot the entire time."

He asked anyone with information to call police at 383-6746 or CrimeStoppers at 386-8685.