Detectives are investigating the fifth gas station robbery to hit the Bay area in two days, and the second robbery this morning.
UPDATE | As of Wednesday morning, one person was taken into custody in connection with four of the five armed robberies in Hillsborough County over the last two days.
Early Wednesday, Trevor Gipson, 20, was arrested in Valrico in connection to the two armed robberies at two eastern Hillsborough County 7-Eleven stores and the two armed robberies at gas stations in Tampa and Temple Terrace on Wednesday morning.
Coincidentally, deputies stopped Gipson right before the Circle K robbery. They cited him for speeding and driving on a suspended license.
Investigators said they smelled an odor of marijuana, and during a search, discovered an unloaded handgun. Since the gun did not come back as stolen, deputies returned it to Gipson, and told him to have someone come pick him up.
After the suspect's car description went out over the radio, deputies were able to track him down using information they gathered during the contact with him initially. They arrested him at a home in Valrico.
ORIGINAL STORY | Just after 3 a.m. on Wednesday morning, the Circle K / Shell on Dale Mabry and Lambright Street was the latest target of a string of armed robberies.
BREAKING: HCSO have a suspect in custody. Possibly related to Circle K and 7-11 robberies. pic.twitter.com/igs1vB31ok
— Ryan Raiche (@ryanraiche) February 22, 2017
Earlier Wednesday, about 11 miles away, Temple Terrace police responded to a separate armed robbery at a Mobil gas station on Fletcher. Police say the suspect showed the clerk a gun but it is unclear what he got away with.
These robberies come on the heels of Tuesday's string of robberies. Two 7-Eleven gas stations were robbed in eastern Hillsborough county in a span of 30 minutes. On Wednesday morning, Trevor Gipson was arrested in Valrico in connection to the two 7-Eleven robberies in Riverview and the two robberies in Tampa and Temple Terrace.
On Tuesday morning, a Speedway gas station was also robbed. The thief was dressed in an orange bear hat, armed with a shotgun. He held up the clerk at the gas station in Riverview. That same gas station has been hit three times now in the last two months. Detectives believe it is the same suspect involved. The suspect is still at large.
RELATED | Deputies investigating three armed robberies in Hillsborough county
Detectives are working to figure out what robberies are related, leaving many gas station clerks in the Tampa Bay area on edge.
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