Third Excell Food Store Robbed By Gunman In Week Armed Suspect Stuffed Money Into White Bag In All 3 Holdups

The bag-boy bandit has struck again.

Police said an armed man suspected of robbing two Excell Food Stores in Spokane earlier this week held up a third about 10:30 a.m. Friday.

Witnesses told police the man walked into the Excell at 17th and Ray, showed a clerk a handgun and demanded cash.

He stuffed the money into a white bag he also carried in the other two robberies and fled on foot, police said.

A store employee followed the bandit out the east doors of the store but lost him when he ran down a bushy embankment toward 17th Avenue.

Police combed the area, but couldn’t find him.

No shots were fired, and no one was hurt in the robbery.

Store employees told police the robber was white, in his mid-20s or early 30s, 6 feet tall and nearly 200 pounds.

He was wearing a blue sweatshirt, blue jeans, sunglasses and a blue Huskies baseball cap.

The description matches that of a man who robbed two other Excells this week.

On Tuesday, a robber held up the Excell at 2104 E. Francis. On Wednesday, police think the same man robbed the Excell at 1608 W. Rowan.

Employees at the four other Excell stores in Spokane are starting to get antsy.

“Yes, we are getting a little nervous,” said Ron Fritz, who manages the Excell on South Perry.

Fritz referred all other questions to the Excell corporate office. Calls there were not returned.

Friday’s armed robbery was the seventh in the Spokane area this month.

Anyone with information about the robberies is asked to call Crime Check at 456-2233.

, DataTimes