EDMONTON -- While investigating a six-hour armed robbery spree in three northern Alberta towns Sunday night, RCMP were given a similar suspect description four times.
A witness and victims described a suspect who had their face covered with a red bandana and who was armed with a gun.
Lac La Biche RCMP were first called about a person of that description around 7:30 p.m. A civilian told police the person was siting in a grey Dodge pickup truck outside a bowling alley with their face covered.
Roughly one hour later, a man covering his face with a red bandana and carrying a gun approached the driver of a parked car at a gas station on 101 Avenue. The driver said there was a second man wearing a hoodie and bandana over his face. Although the driver was told to get out, they managed to drive away.
The victim told police a silver Dodge half-tonne truck followed them for a short while, and RCMP said they conducted “extensive patrols” in the area but could not find the truck.
Around midnight, Boyle RCMP were called to a Petro-Canada in Grassland, Alta., about 50 kilometres west of Lac La Biche on Highway 55. There, a man pointed a gun at a driver of a vehicle and demanded him to get out. An older green/blue GMC truck with an extended cab and tinted windows was used to block the victim’s vehicle in. The two men fled in the GMC truck and a 2017 grey Nissan Altima they had stolen from the driver.
Then, just before 2 a.m., RCMP were called to an armed robbery at another Petro-Canada in Wandering River, 50 kilometres north of Grassland.
There, an armed man opened the front door of the business, stood in the doorway and demanded cash from the employee. He fired one shot then fled in a dark grey Nissan Altima. No one was hurt.
Police have a description of one of the suspects: a slim, Indigenous man around 5’6” or 5’7” tall.
The Nissan Altima stolen in Grassland remains missing. It has an Alberta license plate CCG 2506.
RCMP are searching for it, as well as the GMC.
