It was the second armed robbery in that area in the past three days, and the third that police think was committed by the same man, said Chapel Hill police investigator Lee Sparrow.

In the first two robberies, victims described a black man wearing a black T-shirt and baggy black shorts and wielding a shotgun. In the second and third cases, victims said a black man came and left in a beat-up sedan, unpainted or with a gray primer coat, and displayed a shotgun.

After the first robbery, which took place in an alley between East Rosemary and Franklin streets, two victims described the robber as approximately 6 feet tall, according to police. Police could not provide additional descriptive details such as the suspect's build, skin tone or facial hair.

A Durham woman says she was robbed at a Durham carwash Sunday evening by a man driving a beat-up car, but she says police refused to investigate because she left the scene and went home. She wanted an officer to come to her house and take her report. "I just wasn't into hanging out there," Robin Rooney said.

Sgt. Tom Taylor, a Durham police squad supervisor, said an officer should have gone to Rooney's house to take the report. "If an officer refused to take a report from a person not at the scene, that would be inappropriate," Taylor said. "That would be highly unusual."

Rooney said she saw a man driving a beat-up car park nearby while she took $100 out of the ATM at a State Employees Credit Union kiosk in the Food Lion parking lot on N.C. 55 in southeast Durham. She described the man as slim, shorter than 6 feet, smooth-shaven, in his early 20s and wearing a big white T-shirt, a dark ballcap and shorts. She remembers his car as having a rusty red color.

She thinks the man followed her to the Autorama carwash at N.C. 55 and Sedwick Drive. "She was sitting in the carwash with the carwash going, and he opened the door," said Patty Rooney, her sister, who reported the incident to Chapel Hill police after Durham did not respond.

Robin Rooney said the man stuck the shotgun into her side and demanded the ATM money.

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.