Some South Richmond robberies likely linked

Richmond Police Chief Bryan T. Norwood says investigators don't believe the same two gunmen are responsible for all of the recent violent armed robberies at small businesses that have left South Richmond residents and merchants in fear.

But "it's a fair assessment" that the same men are responsible for some of the crimes, he said yesterday.

In a six-day span last week, there were four robberies of small businesses in South Richmond in which guns either were used or displayed. In three of those robberies, victims told police the suspects were two men.

From Friday to Sunday, there were three other robberies or attempted robberies in South Richmond in which the victims said the suspects were two men.

The seven robberies have left one person dead and a community on edge.

Norwood said investigators have strong leads in some of the holdups and that there could be "some mimicking going on" by copycat criminals.

Mohammad Taib, owner of 786 Convenience Deli Mart, said yesterday that he is adding security after the latest shooting at his store on Erich Road, just north of Midlothian Turnpike.

Taib was hospitalized for two weeks in January 2001 after he wrested a handgun away from a robber but was shot in the right thigh.

On Thursday night, his son and another clerk were on duty at the store when two robbers walked in at 11:49 p.m., and one fired a shot that passed through an office door before lodging in the frame of a refrigerator.

No one was injured, but Taib -- who raised his checkout counter and moved the cash register away from the customers after the 2001 shooting -- said it's time for more changes. He's calling around for quotes about having the counter area encased in bulletproof glass.

"This is part of the life, the business, I guess," he said with a shrug.

Taib is no stranger to violent robberies. He said he was shot twice during his days as a taxi driver in New York before he moved to Richmond and opened his store 15 years ago. Two of his relatives were blasted with pepper spray Nov. 15, 2002, while they worked behind the counter of the store.

Late Tuesday night in the 2400 block of Jefferson Davis Highway, Ashraf M. Alatiyat, a co-owner of the Come and Go Food Market, was shot to death during what authorities said was a robbery by one person.

Three nights later and a few hundred feet to the south, a clerk at the Golden Food Market in the 2700 block of Jeff Davis was shot six times during a robbery that police said was committed by two men. The clerk is expected to survive.

Both businesses remained closed yesterday with their storefronts secured with steel, roll-up shutter doors.

So far, Richmond police have released a detailed description that witnesses provided in the shooting of Alatiyat: a black male, 6-foot-1 and about 170 pounds, wearing a green poncho, black trousers, gold glasses and a floppy white fishing hat. The man appeared to be in his mid-20s with a slight beard.

Police have described the suspects in the Golden Food Market robbery as two black males wearing black clothing. Other identifying characteristics have not been released.

They also have released no suspect information about the 786 Convenience shooting, although Taib said the two robbers were black men wearing dark sunglasses and all black clothing, including elbow-length gloves.

Citing ongoing investigations, Norwood seemed reluctant yesterday to comment on any possible links between the shootings at Golden Food and 786 Convenience and an armed robbery that occurred Sunday at 10 p.m. at a McDonald's restaurant in the 6800 block of Midlothian Turnpike. That robbery also reportedly was the work of two males.

Norwood also was noncommittal on any connection between three other armed robberies or attempted robberies of individuals that were reported during the weekend in South Richmond, all of them said to have been committed by two males.

Police reports indicate that the first occurred Friday at 4:30 p.m. in the 2700 block of Midlothian Turnpike; the second Saturday at 2 p.m. in the 4000 block of Jefferson Davis; and the third Sunday at 12:19 a.m. in the 3000 block of Decatur Street.

The chief said police are offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to an arrest in the Come and Go Food Market robbery and killing, as well as in the Golden Food Market robbery and shooting.

Norwood noted that despite the recent robbery spike, commercial robberies are down 43 percent this year compared with the same period last year, although robberies of individuals are up 13 percent.

Total violent crime is up 5 percent this year compared with last, and overall major crime has climbed 6 percent, he said.

Contact Joe Macenka at (804) 649-6804 or .

Staff writer Mark Bowes contributed to this report.