Police believe armed robberies at cellphone stores across metro are connected

ATLANTA — Three metro Atlanta police departments are now working together to try and figure out a string of cellphone store robberies.

Surveillance video from January shows a robber at a metro Atlanta AT&T store forcing an employee into a backroom, demanding phones.

Investigators believe the same man was caught on camera robbing a T-Mobile store in Cobb County on May 18.

On May 25, a T-Mobile store in East Point was robbed and police believe it's highly likely all three cases are connected.

Investigators told Channel 2's Alyssa Hyman that the getaway car in the East Point robbery looks like the same car used in the Cobb County robbery.

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"We don't want anyone to get hurt. I'm not saying that's going to happen but just to keep everyone safe, we want to go ahead and find out who these people are and get them off the street," East Point police Sgt. Ebony Bullock said.

An employee who works at one of those stores told Hyman about the frightening moments he came face-to-face with the barrel of a gun.

"He said, ‘Y'all know what time it is,’ and I basically already knew,” the employee said, asking not to be identified.

The employee has an important message for others.

"Be more alert. Be on the lookout because we wasn't (sic) really paying attention. For that quick second, I just literally sat down, and someone came in and pointed a gun to our face,” the employee said.

"They've shown a pattern that they haven't stopped just yet so yes, it is a possibility that they could strike somewhere else in the metro Atlanta area,” Bullock said.

Police are offering a $2,000 Crime Stoppers reward and T-Mobile is offering an additional $3,000 for anyone with information that helps solve the case.

You can contact Crime Stoppers by calling 404-577-8477.

Cox Media Group