An armed robbery at a local restaurant has Abbotsford Police concerned that similar incidents could occur.
On Monday night at about 9:45 p.m., a man entered a Subway restaurant in the 31900 block of South Fraser Way. He approached an employee at the cash register, produced a handgun and demand cash.
"The 18-year-old cashier is pretty shaken and she struggled initially to get the cash register open, just because she's so frightened," said Const. Ian MacDonald.
A second employee observed the robbery but was not able to call for help because of the positioning of the suspect.
The man, fled from the restaurant once he obtained the cash. Neither of the female employees was harmed but both were extremely upset by the incident.
A police dog was brought in but the suspect was not located.
"We were on scene pretty quickly. We're thinking he either had a bicycle or a vehicle waiting."
The suspect is described as a Caucasian male, 25-35 years of age and approximately 5’10”. He was dressed in dark or black clothing with a hoodie pulled up around his head and a bandana over part of his face.
MacDonald said about two weeks ago, an armed robbery took place at a McDonalds Restaurant on Mt. Lehman Road.
"Certainly we have to consider the possibility that those are connected," said MacDonald.
He added that police are always concerned that an armed robbery could eventually become a "spree" of robberies.
"We've experienced that with the Subway spree that we had a couple of years ago so we are extremely concerned right now and want to get the word out to business owners."
Anyone with information about this incident should call the Abbotsford Police Department at 604-859-5225 or text 222973 (abbypd) or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.