FILE PHOTOS BY HEATHER N. GRIMMER - Sheriff's and New York State patrol vehicles stand outside the Sunoco station on the corner of Transit and Robinson on Sunday. The robbery was the third such incident in under 8 hours. Monday, Niagara County Undersheriff Michael Filicetti said the sheriff's office believes the incidents may be related.

Three robberies in an eight-mile radius eight hours with similar looking suspects and similar MOs — it was only a matter of time before law enforcement said they were connected.

Monday, Niagara County Undersheriff Michael Filicetti said just that: "We believe they're related."

A tan jacket is placed into evidence following a robbery at knifepoint at the Crosby's gas station in Gasport Sunday night. A jacket was left behind at an earlier robbery as well. Police think the robberies may be related.

In all three robberies Sunday night, the assailant held up a gas station with a knife or knives and then left the knife behind. In at least two of the robberies, the assailant also left behind his coat and a ski mask. Also in two of the robberies, the assailant was listed as a white male in his 20s. A description has not yet been released on the assailant in the third robbery, that of a Sunoco gas station just before 11 p.m. Sunday.

In the first robbery, which occurred at the NOCO station on South Transit Road in the Town of Lockport around 3:20 p.m., the suspect fled on foot into the Woodlands Mobile Home Park before getting into a white car which was believed to have two other white males in it.

In the second robbery, which occurred around 6:30 at the Crosby's station on Rochester Road in Gasport, the suspect fled by foot. A K9 unit searched the area but did not find the perpetrator.

Details on the third robbery, its suspect or the evidence found at the scene, have not been released by the Niagara County Sheriff's Office. What little is known was heard over the police scanner.

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