Three area tanning salons robbed

Three area tanning salons were robbed Thursday evening, leaving police questioning whether there were multiple bandits in the incidents or one.

A man who showed a black handgun robbed a Tan Republic salon in Orchards at 5:58 p.m. Thursday.

According to emergency radio reports monitored at The Columbian, the robber was a thin white man, about 6 feet 2 inches tall, with brown hair. He wore a ball cap, a green jacket, and jeans.

He entered the salon, at 6115 N.E. 114th Ave., showed his weapon to a clerk, and took money from the till.

The robber was last seen on foot eastbound on Rosewood Avenue.

Vancouver police are investigating.

Later, at 6:34 p.m. a man robbed Tropical Image Tanning at 10501 N.E. Highway 99 in Hazel Dell. He was described as wearing a blue baseball cap, dark green jacket and jeans. He implied he had a weapon and took money from the till, said Clark County Sheriff’s Sgt. Linda Hayes. The man fled south on Highway 99.

Sheriff’s deputies tried to track the suspect with a K-9 team but were unsuccessful. The Tactical Detective Unit is handling the incident.

Were these robberies committed by the same suspect-?

“We’re not discounting that, but the descriptions of the persons did not match,” Hayes said.

She said the suspect would have had to travel quickly to make it from one location to the next.

However, at 8:45 p.m. SunsUp Tanning in east Vancouver, 2100 S.E. 146th Ave., was robbed by a man with a black handgun. The man matched a description similar to the previous two robberies, but was wearing different clothing, according to emergency radio traffic monitored by The Columbian.

Police canvassed the area.

Two other local tanning salons were recently robbed, one on Jan. 22 and one Dec. 3.