Man armed with shotgun robs cab driver in Daytona Beach

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Volusia County investigators are working Monday to figure out if the same robber targeted two different cab drivers.

The first victim was held up by a man with a shotgun in Daytona Beach Sunday afternoon.

Early Monday morning, a second driver was ambushed and hit in the face with a shotgun.

Channel 9's Blaine Tolison asked police what clues they have to find who's behind the violence.

Eyewitnesses said the robber who targeted a cab driver came from around the corner of a building.

Now detectives are searching for clues and checking for surveillance video from nearby businesses to possibly solve two crimes that happened within 24 hours.

Daytona Beach police found one of the shotguns used to rob a cab driver over the weekend, along with a shirt left behind by the robber not far from the scene on Magnolia Avenue.

Also left behind was a Bible and a note from the robber saying how badly he needed the money.

Detectives said it will all be useful in their investigation.

"Any piece of evidence that you find on a scene such as this is helpful," said Detective Nate Williams with the Daytona Beach Police Department.

Deputies are still trying to gather evidence in a similar cab driver robbery early Monday morning.

That robber also came armed with a shotgun, but his had a pistol grip.

He demanded money from the cabbie with American Taxi near Daytona's Last Call on Nova Road.

A security officer who called 911 said the robber was violent.

"And is anyone injured?" asked the 911 operator.

"Uh, he punched the cab driver," said the security officer.

The man, wearing a hooded sweatshirt, punched the driver when he grabbed the barrel of the shotgun out of reaction. The driver suffered a cut lip.

Detectives with Daytona Beach police and the sheriff's office are working with one another to see if the crimes are related before the robber does serious harm.

"We as citizens should be concerned about incidents such as this that occur in our neighborhoods," Williams said.

Deputies won't say how much the suspect got away with Monday morning. WFTV spoke to a friend of the victim who said this is the second time he has been robbed on the job as a cab driver.

WFTV