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Police foil pharmacy's third robbery this week

Posted at 11:08 PM, Sep 24, 2015
and last updated 2015-09-24 23:08:41-04

A 17-year-old and 20-year-old were arrested Thursday with a note in their pocket threatening to harm an east side Walgreens' employees if they weren't given pills.

If they'd succeeded, it would have been the store's third robbery this week.

MORE | 11 pharmacy robberies in 5 days in Indy area

Lawrence police detectives were conducting surveillance on the Walgreens Pharmacy at 4555 N. Shadeland Avenue Thursday when they saw two males matching the descriptions of previous robbery suspects entering the business.

Employees also saw the men, and recognized them from a previous robbery attempt on Tuesday.

When employees made it clear they saw the suspects, police said the pair tried to flee the area. That's when detectives moved in and arrested them, allegedly finding the note in the pocket of the juvenile suspect.

The juvenile suspect and the 20-year-old, identified as Timothy Woods, were taken into custody on preliminary charges of attempted robbery, a level 5 felony.

Lawrence police were working with detectives from other agencies to see if the pair could be connected to other recent robberies in the area.

Eleven pharmacy robberies were reported in the Indianapolis area between Saturday morning and Wednesday night – two of those at the Walgreens on Shadeland Avenue in Lawrence.

Six suspects from those robberies were thought to be juveniles. One of those juveniles, an 11-year-old boy, was arrested while attempting to rob the Walgreens at 51st Street and Keystone Avenue. Police said the boy was armed with a handgun at the time of the robbery.

MORE | IMPD: 11-year-old held up pharmacy with gun

Lawrence police said they've been called to eight robberies or attempted robberies at pharmacies this year. Six of those incidents so far have resulted in arrests.

A recent report identified Indiana as the No. 1 state in the nation for pharmacy robberies, and Indianapolis police have said the city is on pace this year to exceed 2014's numbers.

MORE | Indiana leads the nation in pharmacy robberies | VIDEO: Indy on pace to exceed 2014 pharmacy robberies this month

On Thursday night, police were called to a pharmacy robbery on the south side at 7930 Madison Avenue.

IMPD said an unidentified suspect fled the robbery with an unknown amount of pills.

See a map of pharmacy robberies reported since Saturday below (robberies with juvenile suspects marked in red):