Watch: Clerk puts robbery suspect in chokehold at Hudson gas station

HUDSON, Fla. (FOX 13) - A robber is on the run in Pasco County after a Tuesday afternoon crime spree.

Deputies say the man hit three businesses in less than a mile, along State Road 52.

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office said it started just before 1 p.m. when the criminal pulled up to the drive-through window at a Regions Bank and demanded money, but he drove away empty handed.

His next stop was a Sunoco Food Mart.

“Fella walked up to me, walked straight up to the counter, looked me straight in the face and said ‘I’ve got a gun, give me your money.’ At first, I was a little taken aback, and I asked ‘What did you just say to me?' And he said ‘I got a gun, give me your money,’” Sunoco clerk Rob Ray recalled.

Customers were in the store and surveillance cameras were rolling. Ray said he wanted the would-be robber to keep his hand in his pocket and to get out of the store.

“I came around here, he had his hand in his pocket, I came around behind him, put him in a chokehold, drug him out basically,” said Ray. "Somebody comes in, wants to rob a store, they're not thinking straight in the first place, so you woulda thought after he got dumped on his head in my parking lot that he would have given up on robbing other people, but clearly he didn’t."

The sheriff's office said the suspect drove straight to Hudson Alterations & Dry Cleaning and again, demanded money from the owner. 

She says she ran to the barbershop next door for help.

"I went out to the car and I confronted him and I said ‘Did you take money from this lady?’ and he says ‘Yes, I’m broke and I told her I want $100,'" barbershop owner Russ Disi said.

Disi says he grabbed the man, but when the suspect said he was armed, he backed away.

“I didn’t know how much money he took from her but I’m thinking whatever it was it's not worth getting shot over,” Disi said.          

The entire crime spree only lasted about 30 minutes, according to investigators, who said the suspect was driving a black, four-door Volkswagen Jetta.

He was described as a white male in his 60s, wearing a black ball cap and a black jacket with white stripes on the sleeves. 

Deputies want him off the streets and hope someone will recognize him. 

Anyone with information should call 911.

A previous version of this story said the incidents happened in Port Richey.