COLONIAL HEIGHTS, VA (WWBT) -
A violent crime trend in Colonial Heights finds police on high alert after a second violent attack within a matter of days. Overnight, a man was robbed and shot in the stomach at the intersection of Maple and Franklin Avenues near The Boulevard. That's the same area of an attempted robbery that might be connected.
Early Tuesday morning, a man who stopped to help the victim says the victim had just rented a DVD from a Redbox machine and as he was walking home – two men held him at gunpoint behind a Goodwill store - taking everything he had.
It can happen to anyone at anytime. After a middle aged man left a Red Box in the wee hours of the morning, he found himself the victim of a violent robbery.
"He was bleeding down the back of his head, and had a cut down underneath his ear and down his neck and had been shot in the stomach,” said Bryan Ham.
Ham saw the man signaling for help as he tried to walk himself into the police department.
"He said ‘I've just been mugged and shot,’." He recounted.
That's when the Good Samaritan stopped and called 911.
It’s not the only time police believe these same men have struck. Over the weekend, just half a mile away, there was an attempted robbery of a newspaper delivery woman.
"Once they demanded {money} from her, she refused and got in her vehicle…She fled the scene and when she fled the scene, one of the suspects fired several shots at her vehicle, striking the back of the vehicle,” said Sgt. Rob Ruxer.
Now police are on high alert.
"These individuals are definitely violent. They have proven they are not afraid to use the handgun they have and we'd like to get these individuals off the street as soon as possible,” Ruxer said.
It would bring peace of mind to neighbors - like one woman who knows the latest victim.
"He's just a very friendly person. He doesn't bother nobody. He just walks to the store and comes back,” she said not wanting to be identified.
The shooting happened outside her front door - where children live.
"Around 6 in the afternoon, they were sitting there playing with chalk, just to think just a couple feet further, the shot happened right there. It's crazy,” she said.
The victim was rushed to the hospital overnight and is expected to pull through. Colonial Heights is talking with Chesterfield and Hopewell police after similar events played out there as well. Officers are reviewing surveillance video from a nearby store for clues into this case.
If you have any information, call Crime Solvers at 804-748-0660.
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