NORTH MIAMI, Fla. – The search is on for a thief believed to be behind a string of robberies in North Miami.
The crook has been busy, holding up a clerk at a Circle K gas station, then a day later, robbing a laundromat down the street.
Surveillance video inside the Circle K, located off 134th Street and West Dixie Highway, captured the man as he walked into the convenience store and posed as a customer before holding the clerk at gunpoint last Tuesday.
On the video, he tells the clerk to open the register before walking behind the counter and taking $150 from the cash drawer. He then leaves, walking out the front door.
The next day, he broke into a nearby laundromat, where surveillance cameras again caught his every move.
Once inside the Splash Coin Laundry on Wednesday, the thief jumps over the counter and takes more than $400 in cash from a register.
That is just the beginning of his violent search for more money. He then smashed a second register only to discover it was empty.
Customer Lisa Sinnet said she walked in to Splash to do laundry and saw the destruction, including an ATM riddled with bullets. The robber was not able to get through the teller machine’s steal case and did not get any money.
“It makes me feel unsafe in the neighborhood,” said Sinnet.
The business owner told Local 10 News’ Roy Ramos that the thief caused at least $5,000 in damage. — a setback he just can’t afford at a time when all businesses are suffering.
"There are people here that are really trying to build their businesses and you are not helping people when you come in and steal from them," said Sinnet.
The thief is still on the loose.
Anyone with information about the crimes or the suspect is urged to contact Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 371-8477.