3 women robbed by armed man in Coon Rapids

Updated: September 2, 2010 - 7:51 PM

Police urge caution for those who are out at night.

resize text
print
buy reprints

Tweet
share

email
Email share

your name

your email

recipients email

+ add a comment add a comment

Coon Rapids police on Thursday advised caution to people out at night after a man robbed women of their purses at gunpoint on three occasions in the past week, punching one in the face.

The first incident occurred about midnight Friday when a woman in her 30s was walking along Coon Rapids Boulevard NW. near Bittersweet Street NW. She was accosted by a man who pointed a handgun at her and took her purse, said Capt. Paul Ireland.

The second crime, similar to the first, occurred on Saturday at 11:30 p.m. near Mercy Hospital on Coon Rapids Boulevard when a woman in her 30s was robbed of her purse at gunpoint, police said.

The third occurred about 11 p.m. Wednesday when a woman had just arrived home from work. She was sitting in her car in the 600 block of 106th Lane when the suspect wrenched the driver's door open, pointed the handgun and punched her in the head before taking her purse, police said.

The suspect is described as a black man in his early 20s, about 5 feet 10 with medium build, wearing a dark baseball cap and white T-shirt, police said. In the Wednesday incident, he was seen leaving in a gray SUV with a loud exhaust. Two other men were with him.

The Coon Rapids Crime Prevention Association is offering a $1,000 reward for information that may lead to an arrest.

Anyone with information should contact the Coon Rapids Police Department at 763-767-6481 or after hours at 763-427-1212.

ABBY SIMONS