Ypsilanti police believe one man is responsible for at least three armed robberies in the city since Sept. 18, including two in less than 11 hours Sunday and Monday.

Duane Lee (Courtesy of YPD)

Duayne Tyrone Lee, originally of Flint, is considered armed and dangerous, Ypsilanti police Detective Sgt. Tom Eberts said Monday. Lee is the prime suspect in an armed robbery near Eastern Michigan University Monday morning, another incident on Michigan Avenue Sunday night and a third incident in the 200 block of North Washington Street on Wednesday.

Eberts said the department has received reliable information identifying Lee as the main suspect in all three incidents, and the descriptions all match.

“We’re looking at him for all three,” Eberts said.

Lee has been in the Washtenaw County area since June, when he had contact with the Ann Arbor Police Department, Eberts said. He has two tear-drop tattoos under his left eye, matching the description of the person who robbed an EMU employee near campus Monday.

Ypsilanti police believe Lee also robbed a man of his lighter near Michigan Avenue and Summit Street Sunday night.

That incident was reported at 11:29 p.m. Sunday. Eberts said the victim was walking toward a store near campus when he passed by a group of men.

“He went down about another block after passing them and noticed they were following him,” Eberts said.

One of the men approached the victim and asked for a lighter. When the victim went to get the lighter out of his pocket, the man grabbed the victim’s arm and pulled out a black semi automatic handgun, Eberts said.

He pointed the gun at the victim and told him to hand over his wallet. When the victim refused, the man tried to punch him, but the victim broke free and backed away.

The victim reached into his pocket to grab something, and the man with the gun ran away from the scene with a second man, Eberts said. The victim was just a block or so away from the police department and walked in to report the incident.

It’s a similar crime to the ones reported Wednesday and Monday morning.

On Wednesday, police responded at 11:06 p.m. to the 200 block of North Washington Street after a woman reported a robbery. A 40-year-old woman told police she was walking to her home when a man approached her and pointed a black semi automatic handgun at her and demanded her purse.

A 22-year-old woman living nearby heard the woman scream and looked out the window, only to see the man pointing the gun at her, police said. He wrestled away the 40-year-old woman’s purse and ran from the scene.

On Monday, a man was walking in the area of Summit and Sheridan streets when he was passed by a man from behind. After the suspect passed the man, he turned around and pulled out a gun.

“He told him he wanted to make it as easy as possible and he didn’t want to shoot him,” Eberts said.

The man handed over his cellphone and his money and reported being able to see most of the gun and part of the barrel.

In the Sunday and Monday incidents, the suspect was described as a black man in his mid-20s, 5-feet-10 inches tall with a medium build. The victim in Sunday’s robbery said the man with the gun had a short afro and dark clothing and the victim from Monday’s robbery said the suspect had two tear-drop tattoos under his left eye.

The victim from Monday’s incident also described the suspect as wearing a blue and black windbreaker, black jeans and black shoes.

Lee has previous convictions for receiving and concealing a stolen motor vehicle in 2005 and being a prisoner in possession of a weapon in 2006, state records show. He was imprisoned from December 2005 until February 2013, according to records.

There have been at least five robberies in the city of Ypsilanti in September. One arrest was made immediately following one of the cases, but the others remain open.

“It’s been kind of crazy,” Eberts said. “We haven’t had a rash of robberies like this in a while.”

Anyone with information on these incidents or Lee’s whereabouts is encouraged to call the Ypsilanti police at 734-483-9510 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK UP (773-2587).

Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for The Ann Arbor News. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@mlive.com or you can follow him on Twitter.