A suspect has been apprehended after two armed robberies in quick succession, one at an apartment complex and a second at a pharmacy.
The first robbery happened shortly after 1 p.m. on Tuesday at a property management office at 81 York Street.
An altercation with an employee ended with the person tied up in a shower curtain, but there were no injuries.
Minutes later there was a robbery at the nearby Health Park Pharmacy at 453 Park Street.
Witnesses say the suspect was seen carrying what appeared to be a handgun and left in a cab.
The suspect in each incident is described as a white male with dark hair in his late teens or early 20s.
The taxi apparently dropped the suspect off in the area of Edna and Victoria Streets and he then fled on foot.
Police and the K-9 unit were called to the area to search for the suspect, who was located at the Kitchener Motel in the Victoria Street and Lackner Boulevard area.
Josh Pulton was staying at the motel and says "I looked out my window and I heard a couple of cars squealing around the parking lot I saw it was a couple of cruisers. Next thing I know about a half hour later a whole SWAT team was here."
People at nearby businesses were asked to stay indoors.
The motel was surrounded by the Emergency Response Unit, and the suspect finally emerged just before 5 p.m. He was walking when he left, but was later taken away in an ambulance.
Police say it's still unclear whether all the incidents in the sequence are connected.
Waterloo Regional Police spokesperson Olaf Heinzel says "It's too early in the investigation at this point, we have actually two robberies that are currently under investigation and one of those led us to this particular location, but it's still too early in our investigation to make any determination about charges."
The motel is the same one where the suspects involved in local jewelry store robberies were arrested last year.
