TAMPA - Just a few hours after Tampa police issued a bulletin Thursday identifying their suspect in several recent armed robberies, an E-Z Pawn on Florida Avenue near E Seward Street was robbed - and police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said it looks like the suspect's handiwork.
"We think this is his seventh hit in the city," she said. "And we believe he is a suspect in dozens of robberies in the Bay area - Tampa, St. Petersburg, Pinellas County."
Police say Willie B. Bush, 25, robbed EZ Pawn Shop at 5123 N Nebraska Ave. on Monday. A surveillance tape shows Bush carrying a .45-caliber pistol, according to police.
Investigators also named Bush as the suspect in the robbery of Value Pawn at 5401 N 40th St. on Sunday. Later that day, McElroy said, he robbed Cash America at 1901 E Hillsborough Ave. Bush is 5-feet-10 and 240 pounds and considered armed and dangerous.
"He has made statements that he will not be taken alive," McElroy said. "That he would shoot police first."
Jail records show Bush has been arrested several times in the past five years, on charges including grand theft of a motor vehicle, burglary and grand theft with a firearm. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to his capture.
Anyone with information about Bush's location was asked to call Detective D. Pricher at (813) 276-3567, Detective R. Estevez at (813) 276-3588, or Crime Stoppers at (800) 873-8477.
