Burger King hit by armed bandits

Two people armed with semi-automatic pistols robbed the Burger King in South Carson City early Saturday, the third armed robbery reported in the city in two days.

The robbers ushered two employees into the restaurant's cooler, then closed them inside before fleeing through the west door, according to Carson City sheriff's Sgt. Clay Wall,

"It's possible that there is a connection between this robbery and the (Thursday morning) 7-Eleven robbery," said Wall. "There are similarities between the heights of the two suspects, and guns were used in both robberies."

In Thursday's robbery at the North Carson City convenience store, one robber was described as tall, while the other was shorter. That appeared to be the case again with the Burger King incident.

"Of course, if you stand me up next to you," said Wall, "you'd probably have a tall one and a shorter one."

Both suspects in the Burger King robbery were described as white males with medium builds. Both wore black coats, blue jeans and black ski masks.

Two employees were in the restaurant at the time, a manager and another employee, according to police. The robbers forced the employee into the cooler and then asked the manager to open the safe. Afterwards, they put the manager in the cooler as well before departing. Neither worker was injured.

Police did not say how much money the robbers got away with. They were following up on some leads Saturday night, but provided no additional information.

In an incident apparently unrelated to the others, a woman reported being robbed by a black male and white female in the south parking lot of the Carson Nugget on Friday night. It has not been disclosed how much money the woman lost, but she did suffer minor injuries.

"She was smacked around a couple times," said Wall.

Fast-food restaurants have been hit several times in Carson City in recent years.

In December 1997, a manager and a former employee of the South Carson City Wendy's restaurant plotted with others to rob the restaurant with a toy gun. Six people were arrested in the crime. It is believed $2,000 to $2,500 was taken in the robbery.

Three teens were arrested within 15 hours of a similar Wendy's robbery in Minden in March 1998.

In October 1998, a clerk got rid of a robber when the he refused to surrender money from the cash register at the Round Table Pizza at 3815 S. Carson St.

Anyone who may have information about the robberies is asked to call the Carson City Sheriff's Department at 887-2020 ext. 1400.