Employee hit during armed robbery at Cedar Rapids gas station

UPDATE: Police are investigating after an armed robbery at a northwest Cedar Rapids gas station Tuesday night.

Officers responded around 10:50 p.m. to Hawkeye Convenience Store, 4830 Johnson Ave. NW, when the incident was reported. According to a police report, two men demanded money while one displayed a handgun. They ran east from the store with an undisclosed amount of cash, police said.

Sgt. Cristy Hamblin said two employees were in the store at the time. The suspect without the gun hit one of the employees in the back of the head, but he was not injured, she said.

Surveillance video captured the incident, and investigators were analyzing it to determine whether to publicly release images, Hamblin said.

The suspect who displayed the handgun was described as a black male, around 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10 with a thin build, police said. He was wearing a black jacket and hooded sweat shirt, with the hood up, a face mask and gloves.

The other suspect was a taller black male, standing about six feet with a medium build, police said. He wore a black jacket or sweat shirt, with the hood up, a black face mask and gloves.

It was the second business robbery in Cedar Rapids in the past week, and third in the past five weeks. On Nov. 18, two men armed with a knife and a handgun took cash from Check ‘N Go, 124 Collins Rd. Then, on Dec. 14, two men robbed Chec King Payday Advance, 600 Blairs Ferry Rd. They did not display a weapon before getting away with cash.

No arrests have been made in any of the three cases. Hamblin said police have not determined if any of the recent robberies are connected.

“It's something we're certainly looking at,” Hamblin said. “Our patrol division is keeping an eye on businesses.”

Anyone with information any of the crimes is asked to contact Linn County CrimeStoppers at 1-800-CS-CRIME.

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