Police are looking for a man they believe was behind two armed holdups reported in Horseshoe Bay over the past two weeks.
The first encounter took place May 18 at about 11 p.m. when a tall man wearing a balaclava reportedly approached an employee of Trolls Restaurant as she was leaving the eatery and threatened her with what appeared to be a gun.
The suspect took the womans phone to prevent her from calling for help, and grilled her about cash at the restaurant, according to police. He then walked her down an alley, gave her phone back and fled.
Two weeks later, B.C. Ferries employees reported a similarly frightening encounter when a staff member confronted a man who had been behaving suspiciously outside the B.C. Ferries building in the 6700-block of Keith Road. The suspect again produced what appeared to be a gun, ordered the victim back into the facility and demanded money. There was no cash on the premises, however, so the would-be robber left empty-handed.
In both instances, the man was described as six feet tall or more with a large build, wearing a ski mask. In the second case he was reportedly dressed in a beige shirt, blue jeans and gloves and carrying a backpack, knife and a handgun.
The proximity of the crimes to one another and parallels in the M.O. have led investigators to conclude a single suspect was likely involved in both, said Const. Lisa Schmidtke, a spokeswoman for the West Vancouver police.
There was a very similar operation of the suspect, and similar in reassuring the victim they werent going to be hurt, she said.
Any time there is someone who is using a weapon in the commission of an offence, we want to bring them in and take that risk off the street.
Any member of the public with information about either incident is asked to call the WVPD at 604-925-7300.
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