HERSHEY, Pa. (WHTM) -
A robbery Monday morning at a nutritional supplement store in Hummelstown was likely committed by the same man responsible for at least five similar crimes in Dauphin, Lancaster and Lebanon counties, according to police.
Derry Township Police Chief Patrick O'Rourke said the robber held a hammer toward the clerk when he demanded money from the GNC store in the Hershey Square Shopping Centre, at 1138 Mae Street, shortly before 1 p.m.
The robber then ordered the clerk to lie on the floor behind the counter before he fled with the cash. He was last seen running on the west side of the shopping center parking lot, police said.
O'Rourke said Derry Township police are operating under the assumption that the same man tried to rob a Holiday Inn Express in Elizabethtown earlier in the morning.
Northwest Regional police, who are investigating the Elizabethtown incident, said the would-be robber held a handwritten note demanding money in front of the front desk clerk, but left empty handed when he was told there was no cash at the hotel.
He did not display a weapon, and left the hotel at 147 Merts Drive in a gray blue Chevrolet Cobalt at around 8:20 a.m., police said.
Derry Township police believe the same man is also responsible for two robberies in Hershey; at the Vitamin World store at 147 Outlet Square on Friday, and at the Merle Norman Cosmetic Studio in the Briarcrest Square Shopping Village on Thursday.
A hammer was also used in the robbery of the cosmetic shop, and the clerks were ordered to lie on the floor behind the counter in both crimes, according to police.
In all of the Hershey and Hummelstown incidents, the suspect was described as a thin, white male with dark hair and dark eyes, and was said to be wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a multi-colored article of clothing wrapped around the lower part of his face.
The clerk at the Hummelstown store described him as being 20-25 years old, while in the other two cases he was described as appearing 16-25 years old.
Police said his physical description also matches those provided in two Lebanon County robberies; at the Hess Express in Campbelltown on Feb. 23 and at the Weis Market in Palmyra on Feb. 25.
Anyone with information may call Derry Township police at (717) 534-2202.
