UPDATE:
PHOENIX -- Phoenix police say they have arrested a suspect in connection with the "Fused Bandit" armed robberies.
Police say Gregory Elzy, 24, was arrested Wednesday near 27th and Campbell avenues.
Elzy is accused of holding up about 20 Valley stores at gunpoint.
Detectives called him the "Fused Bandit" because he started out robbing auto parts stores.
ORIGINAL REPORT:
PHOENIX - Police are looking for a serial bandit who has struck more than a dozen times in less than a month.
Each time he pulls a robbery, investigators say he is become more and more bold, which they fear increases the likelihood of violence.
Since October 18, he's pulled 16 robberies throughout the city. It is a vast area bordered by Bell Road on the north and south to McDowell, then east to the city limits and west to Interstate 17.
The last time he hit was two days ago at a Cricket Phone Store near 7th Street and Northern Avenue. Surveillance video from a robbery of a video game store in Northwest Phoenix on November 2 shows how casual the gunman is as he orders the clerk to clean out the register. It’s that laconic demeanor that worries investigators.
“He’s going into a store that’s occupied with people,” Phoenix police said. “He’s pointing a gun at them and of course there’s inherent dangers just in that alone for the clerks and anybody who walks in but as he becomes more bold in these and he is doing these were afraid someone is going to get hurt.”
He began robbing auto parts stores which is how he became known as the “Fused Bandit”.
The suspect is described as a black male, 18 to 25 years of age, weighing from between 120 to 160 pounds. He is clean shaven and usually wears a long sleeve shirt or hoodie and a baseball cap.
If you have any information please call Phoenix police. Investigators are worried it’s only a matter of time before the fused bandit hurts someone during a robbery.
