BANGOR, Maine — State and local police are investigating the possible connection between a robbery at Dysart’s Restaurant and Truck Stop in Hermon and reported break-ins at two homes in Bangor.
All three incidents occurred early Friday morning.
A tenant of an apartment on Lincoln Street in Bangor told police that two men forced their way through a door at his apartment about 12:37 a.m. according to a news release issued Friday by Sgt. Tim Cotton of the Bangor Police Department.
The male resident immediately called 911 and then confronted the men with a weapon, causing them to flee the home, Cotton reported.
A short while later, at 1:33 a.m., officers responded to another report of a home invasion on Bolling Drive.
Initial reports indicate that two men entered that home through a back door and demanded money or drugs, according to the police statement.
Cotton said a male resident suffered minor injuries in a brief struggle with one of the robbers in that incident before the resident ran to a nearby house to call the police.
The two male robbers fled the scene. The release did not indicate whether anything was stolen. Cotton said no further information would be released while an investigation is underway.
But not long after those two incidents and shortly before 3 a.m., Maine State Police were called to Dysart’s on Coldbrook Road in Hermon where two white males wearing hoodies and ski masks entered the convenience store side of the business.
According to Trooper David Yankowsky, the two men milled around the store while waiting for other customers to leave. When the store emptied out, they approached the clerk who later told police that they threatened to kill him and everyone inside if they were not given cash.
The clerk backed away from the two men and into a small office area, where he called the police, according to Yankowsky.
Security system footage shows the two robbers knocking the cash register from the counter to the floor, where the drawer popped open. Yankowsky said that the pair made off with the drawer, which contained an estimated $500 to $600.
After leaving the store, the two men reportedly got into a tan or white car, possibly a Chevrolet, that was waiting for them on Odlin Road. He said that the two got into the passenger side of the car, suggesting a third person could have been involved.
“They were only in the store for a minute and a half, two minutes at the most,” Yankowsky said.
Anyone with information about the robbers or the crimes should call Bangor police at 947-7384 or Yankowsky at the state police’s Bangor barracks at 973-3700.