OCALA, Fla. — Another Ocala Dollar General store was robbed at gunpoint Wednesday night, and police are investigating whether it’s connected to a rash of robberies in Marion County.
Ocala police said two men robbed the Dollar General on West Silver Springs Boulevard at about 7:45 p.m. and a second one in Ocklawaha.
Customers were inside, but no one was hurt.
At the store in Ocklawaha, Marion County deputies said the suspects used duct tape and locked the clerks up to keep them from escaping.
"They were secured with duct tape, and then locked into the office," said Ryan Robbins with the Marion County Sheriff's Office.
But almost two hours later and three miles away, two men robbed an Internet cafe on West Anthony Road. No one was hurt.
On Monday, a Dollar General store on Marion Oaks Manor was robbed.
At least eight Dollar Generals have been robbed in Marion County. Deputies told Channel 9's Myrt Price that the previously cases were connected, now they say they're not sure.
"its safe to say that some of them are connected but we're keeping an open mind during this," Robbins said.
In October, surveillance video captured armed robbers holding a 9-year-old girl and her mother at gunpoint inside an Ocala Dollar General store.
You can read those stories below: