Family robbed in Carrboro

CARRBORO -- Police are investigating another armed robbery, at least the sixth this month in Chapel Hill and Carrboro in which Latino victims reported being robbed at gunpoint by two teenagers. It's also the second at Royal Park Apartments.

On Friday a Latino man, woman and child were heading to their apartment about 11 p.m. when two men approached them and demanded money.

"The male victim said that he could not reach his wallet in his back pocket because he was carrying his young child," a police report stated. "One of the suspects pulled a black pistol out of the front pocket of his sweat shirt and pulled the slide back on the gun to chamber a round and pointed it at him and stated, 'I don't care; I'll shoot you both.'

"The female victim started to give the suspects her purse when one of them snatched it out of her hands," the officer wrote. "Both suspects started to flee the scene in the direction of the dumpsters located near South Peak" in the adjacent Whispering Hills condominium complex.

The victims gave the most detailed descriptions yet of the perpetrators.

Both were black, about 16 or 17 years old, and wore dark jeans and dark, hooded sweat shirts. One had dark skin and a thin build, and was about 6 feet 1 inch tall. The other had lighter skin, a thin build, was about 5 feet 7 inches tall and carried the pistol. When they removed their hoods, the male victim said, he saw they had close-cropped hair.

In three robberies in Chapel Hill last week, police say two men, described as black, 17 to 19 years old, 6 feet to 6 feet 4 inches tall and wearing black shirts and black pants, approached the victims in parking lots.

The robberies occurred between 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. April 8 at Kingswood Apartments on the N.C. 54 Bypass, Pinegate Apartments off Eastowne Drive, and Kings Arms Apartments on Ephesus Church Road.

The victims in all three robberies said at least one of the suspects showed a handgun. None of the victims was injured during the robberies.

Through Friday, Carrboro has had four reported robberies this month, including one in which a man was shot in the back of the leg after he said he had no money, Capt. Joel Booker said.

That robbery occurred April 1 at Abbey Court Condominiums, 501 Jones Ferry Road. Booker said the victim was a member of the Karen community, refugees from Myanmar (also known as Burma), that has been resettled in Carrboro.

Another of the earlier robberies was reported at Royal Park Apartments, where the victim said two men each brandished a black pistol. The other occurred at Estes Park Apartments off Estes Drive Extension.

In addition, Carrboro police think this month's robberies may be related to at least six more that have occurred since late January, Booker said. In all but the Abbey Court case, the victims were Latino.