HOME OF THE WHOPPER: May got off to a bad start for Tampa area Burger King franchises, with three different locations robbed within five days of each other. On May 4, a man in a purple skullcap robbed the restaurant at N. 30th Street. After creeping in through an open back door, the man pulled a gun on the clerk and walked off with the cash from the safe and register. The next day, a man carrying a pillowcase and a gun entered the Burger King on W. Hillsborough Avenue and, "immediately entered the employee work station behind the counter." The suspect then forced the store manager to fill the pillowcase with the cash from the safe before escaping to a waiting car. In a similar incident on May 9, a man entered the E. Busch Boulevard location brandishing a gun and a knife, immediately jumped the counter and "ordered the manager to empty a register, a cash drawer and open the safe." This guy also got away.
OTHER OPTIONS: It turns out Burger King is not alone. The Wendy's on Cypress Glen Lane in Tampa was hit on May 6 by two men who made off with the cash from the registers. And it's not just the burgers that lure the criminals. Chicken also has some appeal: On the same day as the Wendy's robbery, the Popeye's Chicken on W. Green Street was robbed by two armed men who arrived after closing time but before the door was safely locked. Pizza can also be tantalizing: On May 11, an armed man made off with the cash from the register of the Pizza Hut on E. Busch Boulevard. Even the sandwich is a target: On May 12, two men entered the Subway on N. Armenia Avenue and asked how much for a "six inch ham/turkey sandwich." As the clerk tried to figure it out, one of the men pulled out a gun and the other took all the money in the register.
MORE RESTAURANT ROBBERIES: Two more, both from May 14. In the first, the two men entered the Bonefish Grill on Henderson Boulevard at 1 a.m., encountered the cleaning crew and made off with the money from a bar-area register. In the other, two men entered SoHo hotspot The Rack, forced a patron back inside and approached the bar area. As the bartenders attempted to flee, one of the men fired a round into the bar as the other grabbed the cash from the register. Both men got away.
From the files of the T.P.D.
This article appears in May 23-29, 2007.
