Man with gun robs 2 N.W. drugstores

An armed suspect wanted in a pharmacy robbery earlier this month is believed to have held up two other drugstores Tuesday morning.

A man approached the pharmacist at the Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy at 600 Crowfoot Cres. N.W. at about 11 a.m. and demanded OxyContin, a highly addictive painkiller.

He showed the pharmacist the butt of a handgun he had in the waistband of his pants, said Calgary Police Insp. Rob Williams.

The man fled with a small amount of the drug in a blue two-door hatchback Honda. The car, with Alberta licence plate KYF 560, had been stolen earlier in the day from the Anderson C-Train parking lot, Williams said.

The same pharmacy was hit on Oct. 20 when a man with a rifle demanded OxyContin and morphine, then fled in a stolen Acura.

"The clerk has stated that it was the same guy from last week so we've definitely got a guy doing repeat offences here," Williams said.

About half an hour after the first robbery on Tuesday, the same suspect demanded OxyContin from the pharmacist at a drugstore in the 6200 block of Centre Street North.

"This time he pulled the handgun from the waistband and held it over the counter. He didn't point it at the clerks but he definitely pulled the handgun out," Williams said.

7 robberies in past month

The suspect is described as five feet seven inches tall, about 145 pounds, wearing a black jacket with the hood pulled up and dark sunglasses.

Williams described the robber as looking "malnourished" with "drawn-in cheeks."

"He didn't appear to be drunk or high today, to the staff. But I can tell you we are concerned, anytime there's a handgun involved in any of these robberies," he said. "We consider him armed and dangerous and we'll be taking him down quite seriously when we locate him."

Calgary police are investigating if seven pharmacy holdups in the past month are part of a ring.

"We're just trying to determine if there's a group of individuals or just one or two that are targeting these drugstores," said Williams.

So far, police have charged one Calgary man, 29, with robbery, possession of a weapon, possession of a stolen vehicle and having his face masked, in relation to a holdup in southwest Calgary on Oct. 18.