Maine State Police are investigating an attempted burglary and an armed robbery early Sunday morning that they think were committed by the same person, who appeared to be wearing a skull face mask and driving a blue car in both cases.
The first robbery was reported at 1:37 a.m. at Annie’s Market on Middle Road in Sidney, according to Cpl. Diane Vance. The suspect appears to have used a prying tool, such as a crowbar, to try to get past the market’s strong glass door, Vance said in an interview Monday. However, she said the structural integrity of the door proved too much, so the suspect fired rounds of bullets from a handgun through the glass in an attempt to weaken it.
While the man was unable to enter the store, the bullets damaged the property inside, Vance said. That amounted to “a couple thousand dollars’ worth” of property damage, according to a news release from Maine State Police spokesman Steve McCausland.
About an hour later in Oakland, someone pointed a gun at a Waterville man in the parking lot of Mac’s Citgo, demanding money.
The victim was trying to fix his flat tire at the air compressor when he saw a blue car drive in, according to police. He initially thought the person was coming over to help him, but instead the man — wearing a skull mask — drove up to him and pointed a gun at him, demanding money, Vance said. According to the victim, the man with the gun said he didn’t want to hurt the Waterville man.
The victim didn’t have any money to give the suspect, Vance said, so the armed man drove off empty-handed toward Sidney. No one was injured.
While the Oakland robbery was reported immediately, the Sidney incident wasn’t reported until employees arrived at the market around 6:30 a.m. and saw the damage. After gathering all of the information, Vance said she was “able to put two and two together.”
The market in Sidney has surveillance cameras that captured images of the intruder, a man who was wearing jeans, a skull face mask and a dark trench coat. He was driving a blue car — it had been parked behind a dumpster — that police believe is a Honda Civic, a Hyundai Elantra or a Nissan Altima. The description of the suspect in the attempted Oakland robbery matches the appearance of the man caught on camera in Sidney, Vance said.
Police have not identified any suspects in the ongoing investigation and asked that anyone with information about either incident call the state police at 624-7076 in Augusta and ask for Vance.
Madeline St. Amour — 861-9239
mstamour@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @madelinestamour
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