Robbers strike Cahaba Hills

Published 10:49 am Thursday, March 11, 2010

Residents of two homes in the Cahaba Hills area of Leeds were victims of armed robberies on Sunday afternoon.

About mid-afternoon on Sunday, a couple living on Lynn Circle was caught off guard when two or three men allegedly approached them on their driveway and demanded money at gunpoint.

According to Leeds Police Chief Ted Cook, the couple did not get a good look at how the men came to be on their property.

“They just looked up and saw them there in their driveway,” Cook said. “They didn’t know if they had driven up in a car or had walked there.”

Once the men appeared and demanded money, the couple and at least two suspects went into their house and gave them an undisclosed amount of cash.

At that point, officials with the Leeds Police Department began canvassing the area for the suspects. About 30 minutes after the robbery on Lynn Circle, another home was targeted by armed robbers, this time on Katherine Street.

Cook said the robbers walked into the home and demanded money – again by gunpoint – from a female who was inside the house. Her husband, according to Chief Cook, was in the yard working, which was the reason the door was unlocked when the suspects arrived.

The robbers led the wife to two different rooms in the house to collect money. The husband continued to work in the yard and was not aware of the situation until the robbers were gone.

Cook said the incident was similar to the first in that the robbers caught their victims by suprise.

“Again, nobody saw how they arrived or how they left,” he said.

During the first incident on Lynn Circle, the victims may have seen up to three suspects. One witness was said to have seen two robbers while the other saw three. Cook said it is possible the third robber waited outside while the other two went inside to collect the money. Victims of the second incident on Katherine Street told officials there were two men.

Following the robberies, police continued to search the area and asking residents if they had seen anything.

Cook said investigators are continuing to work the case searching for leads and suspects. He said some fingerprints have been sent for matching and he is hopeful they will be in the state’s fingerprinting catalog system.

Police officials are asking anybody who may have information on the case to call them at 699-2581.

“We are asking that if anybody saw something happening in that area they think was suspicious to call us. So far, we have no real good leads,” Cook said.