Police are investigating a possible link between an armed robbery at Colucci’s store in Windham and the robbery of a Best Western hotel in South Portland on Monday night.
Shortly after 8 p.m., a young male in gray hooded sweatshirt entered Colucci’s, next to the routes 302 and 202 rotary, while employees inside were preparing to close up shop. The suspect brandished a handgun, demanded “all the money” and got away with an undisclosed sum.
The suspect left in a “small white car” last seen headed toward Gorham on Route 202, said Lt. David DeGruchy of the Windham Police Department.
The suspect’s description matches that of a young male in his late 20s who held up a Best Western on Main Street in South Portland around 6 p.m. the same night. In that incident, the suspect, also wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, approached the front desk, demanded money at gunpoint and left on foot with an undisclosed sum. He is described as a white male with a “scruffy complexion” and five feet, six inches tall with a medium build, said Detective Sgt. Edward Sawyer of the South Portland Police Department.
Windham Detective David Bonneau is working in coordination with South Portland detectives in the investigation, though no definitive link has been established.
In the wake of the recent robbery, the owner of Colucci’s, who asked that her name remain anonymous, said nothing like this has ever happened to her store and that she is concerned for her employees. The day after the incident, she received numerous phone calls from vendors, customers and neighbors who offered their support.
“It’s a shame my employees had to go through this,” she said. “We’re just a friendly neighborhood store.”
Anyone with information related to either robbery, please contact Windham Detective Bonneau at 892-2525 or South Portland Detective Frank Stepnik at 799-5511.
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