Portsmouth, Va. - The China Ocean restaurant at 1505 London Boulevard was robbed Friday night. It's the third Chinese restaurant that was robbed in Portsmouth in two weeks.
Police communications received the 911 call at 10:11 p.m.
According to detectives a black man, armed with a handgun, entered the business and demanded money.
The employee complied with the man's demands and the suspect fled on foot. No one was hurt during the incident.
Back on September 4th, two other Chinese restaurants were robbed about a half hour apart. In both incidents, the suspects matched the same description.
An employee at Lin's Garden, the first of the two that was robbed, says the news of other restaurants has her family worried.
"When the guy came in behind our counter her just told my mom he wanted money and raised a gun to my head. I was like, why is this happening to us, it shouldn't be happening," says Angela Lo. "We don't want this to continue over and over."
Portsmouth Police say there are similarities to the three robberies, but they do not know yet if they are connected.
Chesapeake Police are also investigating a Panda Express armed robbery that happened on September 16th. It involved a suspect that was armed with a gun and demanded money, and is only minutes down the road from the two restaurants that were robbed on the 4th in Portsmouth.
At this time detectives are continuing to investigate this incident and are asking anyone with information to call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP℠. Callers are never asked to give their name or required to testify in court. If a caller’s tip leads to an arrest, the recovery of drugs or stolen property they could be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1000.
