LEESBURG, Fla. – Law enforcement agencies in Central Florida are investigating multiple carjackings and armed robberies that are believed to be part of a crime spree, according to the Leesburg Police Department.
Police said suspects in an Orange County carjacking came to Leesburg and stole a car from a woman at a Circle K on 14th Street.
In that incident Thursday night, the victim said she parked her car next to a handicapped spot and went into the convenience store while her mother stayed in the front passenger's seat.
Police said the woman was getting back into the driver's seat when two men, one of whom had a gun, got out of a red vehicle that was parked in the handicapped spot and ordered the women out of the car.
Once the two masked men were in the victim's black Cadillac, they drove off along with the red vehicle, which had been reported stolen in Orange County about two hours earlier, according to the report.
Details on that vehicle theft were not immediately available.
About an hour after the armed carjacking in Leesburg, the victim's Cadillac and the stolen red Hyundai Elantra were involved in an armed robbery at a Sanford Circle K, the Seminole County Sheriff's Office said.
Two men pointed a gun at a clerk and demanded money from the register, according to the report.
About 10 minutes later, at 1:09 a.m. Friday, the two masked men held an employee at gunpoint and demanded all the money in the register at at a Deltona RaceTrac, a news release from the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said.
An employee called 911 after the robbery and described the suspects to dispatchers.
"It's two black suspects. One of them was fat, he had on a red vest. The other one, he was black, he had a mask over his face," the employee told 911.
The employee was hit in the back of the hit with a gun but was not injured, according to authorities. Deputies said another employee and two customers were told to lie on the floor while the armed robbery was taking place.
Deputies said the men returned to Orange County and committed an armed robbery at a 7-Eleven on Rose Avenue at 1:28 a.m. Friday.
Anyone with information about the crimes is asked to call Crime Stoppers of Northeast Florida at 888-277-TIPS (8477).