Multiple costumed robberies occur in a span of days in Helena-West Helena

Police lights are shown in this file photo.
Police lights are shown in this file photo.

Officers in Helena-West Helena are investigating multiple incidents where places are being robbed by armed costumed suspects, a news release states.

Around 12:30 p.m. Monday, officers with the Helena-West Helena Police Department said a black male wearing a white “Scream” mask entered the Federal Post Office on Sebastian Street and jumped over the counter.

Officers said employees immediately ran to the back and locked themselves in. The man left without taking anything, but three minutes later the same man walked into Southern Bancorp Bank located on Plaza Street armed with a handgun.

He took an undetermined amount of cash from the bank tellers and was last seen driving a white sedan, the release states.

On Saturday, officers said a man in a gorilla mask and gloves resembling gorilla hands came into Jordan’s Tobacco Super Center in Helena-West Helena and demanded money. Employees said the costumed suspect kept one hand in his pocket and they thought he had a gun.

Officers said the clerks gave the man the money out of the store’s safe and they got on the ground when they were ordered to do so. The suspect ran out of the store and one of the clerks followed him and observed him getting into an older white Chevrolet Malibu.

Both of these incidents are under investigation.

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