Rowlett police are asking for the public’s help to identify a male suspect they have dubbed the “courteous robber.”
He is wanted in connection with at least two vape shop robberies in the last several days. The suspect, wearing a black hoodie, black pants, brown boots, black gloves, and ski goggles, was caught on surveillance camera robbing Top Cloud Vape on April 30. Brandishing a gun, he approached the clerk and requested items from behind the counter.
“He appears to be very selective in the items. He’s putting some down. He’s taking some. Once he gets them in the bag, he closes the bag, and we notice on video on top of the bag, it has the name of A. Nelson,” Detective Eric Shing of the Rowlett Police Department told Fox 4 KDFW.
Before leaving, the suspect apologizes to the clerk for robbing the store, explaining that he has fallen on hard times. Because of his interaction with the store clerk, police are calling the suspect the “courteous robber.”
Days later, on May 6, the World of Smoke and Vape store, located across the street from the first vape shop, was burglarized at about 1:18 a.m. Surveillance video shows the same suspect from the previous vape store robbery using a hammer to break the glass storefront and access the shop.
This time, the suspect is wearing a black hat instead of a hoodie, revealing that he has a longer-style Mohawk haircut that is clean-shaven on the sides. He places the stolen items into the same black bag stamped with the name A. Nelson.
“He’s used a handgun. So we know that he’s able to resort to violence and he’s going to hit again if he truly is on hard times and desperate,” said Shing. “We believe he’s going to hit again. We don’t want anybody to get hurt. We want him to get identified. And since he’s left on foot in both cases, we do believe he does live in the local area.”
Anyone with information about the suspect is asked to call Detective Shing at 469-853-3328 or email him at [email protected]