Four Armed Robberies Within 24 Hours in Fresno

Four commercial robberies happened in Fresno in the last 24 hours. In several of them clerks were held at gunpoint and thousands of dollars were taken. Detectives are connecting a few of them to other robberies that happened this week.

Two armed suspects stormed through the door at Country Mart just after 8am and right away pistol whipped a clerk knocking him to the ground.

"They took him to the kitchen area, threw him on the ground held him at gunpoint while the other cleared out the registers," Lt. Joe Gomez said.

The suspect took $ 500 from the register, a bag with $ 5,000 in cash sitting on the counter top and the clerk’s handgun. Everything was caught on surveillance video but police are still reviewing it and have not released it.

"They’re all masked up, you cant identify them they have bandanas and hoodies," Lt. Gomez said. Detectives believe the suspects are connected to two other robberies because of the proximity of the markets, and the similarities in the crime.

"It looks like this crew that did this one, they’ve done several, it looks like its the one crew," Lt. Gomez said.

The other two robberies happened just this week at Evergreen and Valentine Market within a five mile radius of Country Mart.

Fresno police and the Sheriff’s Department have seen an increase in commercial robberies. In Fresno County there were 24 robberies within the first six months last year, so far this year there’s been 46.

In the city of Fresno last year there were a total of 780 robberies, as of today there’s been 418. Just last night, a Shell on E. Belmont, a liquor store on N. Palm and a 7-11 on E. Shaw were robbed.

"There are things in the works where we’re watching them more closely," Lt. Gomez said.

Police advice clerks to comply with what the suspects are asking for to avoid getting hurt. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Fresno Police Department.