Police working to determine if string of pharmacy robberies are connected

A third armed pharmacy robbery has been reported in the area in just over a 24 hour span.

Guelph police were called to a pharmacy at Gordon Street and Kortright Road around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Police say an employee saw three people go into the pharmacy and managed to get to a nearby business to call 911.

Another employee, who was still inside, was assaulted by one of the suspects, police said. 

According to police, the group couldn't leave with the drugs they wanted.

"They asked for narcotics, which the business was not able to provide, so they did take a number of other medications off the shelf and that's what they took with them," Guelph police spokesperson Scott Tracey said.

The suspects are described as three Black males, with one carrying a knife. Two were dressed in all black, one was wearing a white sweater, and all three wore masks and gloves.

The three suspects left before police arrived and were last seen heading south on Gordon Street in a white Chevrolet Cruze that had been previously reported stolen.

Around an hour and a half earlier, Waterloo regional police were called to an attempted robbery at a Cambridge pharmacy.

Police say this incident also involved three males, with one of them carrying a knife. The suspects fled in a white sedan police believe might be a Chevrolet Cruze.

Roughly 24 hours before the Cambridge robbery, three males allegedly robbed a Kitchener pharmacy, with one of them again having a knife.

For this incident, the three suspects fled in a dark-coloured vehicle.

Tracey said they're looking at the possibility that the cases are connected.

"We’re certainly aware of similar occurrences in other jurisdictions," he said. "At this point, of course we can’t conclusively say that they are related, but certainly we’re aware of similarities, and as always when we have these types of crimes, we are working with our partners in other jurisdictions to determine whether we believe it’s the same suspects."