Armed robberies of pizza places may be linked, police say

Armed robbers stole money – but apparently left the pie – at two Wichita pizza restaurants Tuesday night.

The robberies – at the Pizza Hut at 8139 E. Central and the Domino’s Pizza at 327 N. Hillside – happened about an hour apart. Police are looking into the chance they were pulled off by the same person.

The suspect descriptions given by employees “are definitely similar,” Wichita police Sgt. Nikki Woodrow said. But police don’t know yet if they’re connected, she said.

Woodrow said in each robbery a man walked into the restaurant with a handgun, demanded employees turn over money then fled with bills in hand. No one saw where he went afterward.

The Pizza Hut, near Rock Road, was struck around 8 p.m. About $245 was stolen, including $193.38 in cash and two paychecks, according to a police report.

Domino’s was hit shortly before 9 p.m. Cash taken there totaled $435.73, another report says.

No pizza was reported stolen on the reports.

The suspect in the Pizza Hut robbery is a black man, about 5-feet 11 inches tall and about 235 pounds wearing black clothing. Woodrow said. The one in the Domino’s robbery was described as a black man, about 5-foot-6, 180 to 200 pounds wearing black clothing.

Anyone with information about the robberies or suspects is asked to call Wichita police at 316-268-4407 or Wichita-Sedgwick County Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.

“With the vague description that we have, we really will rely on somebody calling Crime Stoppers (or police investigators) to say who it is,” Woodrow said, later adding that “it’s a community effort to turn in the person that is doing these.”

This story was originally published March 8, 2017 at 1:01 PM with the headline "Armed robberies of pizza places may be linked, police say."