Orange police has been responding to an unusual amount of armed robberies at convenience stores – five since the beginning of last month.
The first was at Food Mart #2 on FM 1130, which was robbed a second time Sunday night.
The Diamond Shamrock on 16th St. was robbed next. Then, Big M's on Edgar Brown was hit.
A Dollar General on N. 16th St. was robbed after that
The two people shown in the video had their faces covered with t-shirts and held guns.
Orange police believe they're the same two responsible for three of the five armed, convenience store robberies since March.
"That's definitely an anomaly," said Orange Police Department Capt. Cliff Hargrave. "That's out of the ordinary."
Hargrave oversees investigations.
Orange PD has increased patrols around the targeted stores, like the Food Mart #2 near Little Cypress Junior High School, and detectives have been using special forensics to identify recent robbers.
There are no arrests yet in these five crimes.
Hargrave said his team is questioning people of interest.
Orange is working with the Beaumont Police Department to catch these criminals.
Police are doing what they can but ask for you to contact them if you know the suspects.
"It's really serious," said Hargrave. "They need to encourage them to turn themselves in or call us themselves."
Even if you don't who did it, your vigilance helps.
"For citizens, just be aware. When you get out of a convenience store late at night, look around a little bit before you get out of your car, and if anything looks out of the ordinary, call, leave," said the captain. "We can use any help we can. If you see something that arouses your suspicion, give us a call."
Police said these robberies, which only take about a minute, aren't only dangerous to employees and witnesses but for the criminals themselves because clerks or police can fire shots in defense.
"The circumstances can lead to a series of events that could be deadly for everyone involved," said Hargrave.
The manager of Food Mart #2, which has been robbed twice since last month, thinks the robbers are customers because they easily went behind the counter to open the register and stole more than $2,000 in total from both robberies.
If you have information that could help Orange police make arrests call them at 409-883-2612.
