Four armed robberies occurred within three hours Thursday night and Friday morning, but witness descriptions of the suspects have squelched early suspicion by police that the incidents were related.
Police were first called to the Holiday Inn at 1659 N. Temple at about 11 p.m. Thursday, according to Lt. Mark Zelig, Salt Lake Police.A night clerk and co-worker were at the desk when a man entered and lifted his shirt to show a gun stuck in the waistband of his pants.
"Give me the money; I've got a gun," he said.
The two employees bolted into a nearby office, locked the door and called police, Zelig said. The suspect fled before officers arrived.
A half-hour later a man approached a cashier at Albertson's, 1638 S. 900 East, handed the clerk a plastic grocery bag from the counter and demanded she put money in it. The man told the clerk he had a gun and had what looked like a gun stuck in the waistband of his pants. The clerk complied and the robber fled on foot, Zelig said.
Zelig said both robbers were white males with brown hair but witness descriptions vary beyond that.
A third robbery occurred an hour later at Metro Gas, 500 N. Redwood Rd. The night worker was outside emptying the trash, Zelig said.
A man wearing a ski mask intercepted him and at gunpoint demanded the cash in the victim's wallet. He then pointed the gun at the clerk and told him to go in the store and open the safe.
Zelig said the victim convinced the robber he didn't know the combination and the man left without harming the victim.
Shortly after the third robbery, a man was sitting in his living room near 500 N. 200 West with friends. Two men kicked his front door in, entered and threatened to shoot three women in the room.
Zelig said one victim told police that he recognized the two men from an altercation earlier in the evening at the club Power House. He said he thought the con-flict had been resolved and he had no idea the suspects would follow him home. The two men left with a color TV.
Police have made no arrests in any of the four incidents.