Burlington Free Press

Twice Sunday night store clerks refused to hand over cash to a woman saying she was armed. First at a Burger King in Colchester and then a store in Winooski about a half hour later. The suspects in each incident are described similarly, but police did not say if the attempted robberies are related. A man walked away with cash from a Colchester store earlier in the night.

At about 9:45 p.m. a store clerk chased away a woman who tried to rob the Simon's convenience store at 262 Main St. in Winooski, according to police.

When the woman demanded money and said she was armed, but "the store clerk did not believe the robber was armed and chased her out of the store," said police in a news release.

The suspect is described as white, in her 20s and wearing a dark hoodie and dark jeans.

The Burger King on South Park Drive in Colchester was hit about 15 minutes earlier, around 9:30 p.m., police said.

"Initial report was that the a lone female entered the store and presented a note to the clerk stating that she had a gun and for the clerk to give her the money. The clerk refused and the female subsequently left the store heading south towards Winooski," police said in a news release.

At about 9 p.m. the Colchester Police Department received a report of an armed robbery had just occurred at the Maplefields store at 414 Roosevelt Highway.

In that incident a man, later Monday identified as Tyler Galipeau, 34, of Bennington, entered the store, said he had a gun and demanded money. That suspect left with an undisclosed amount of cash, police said.

Galipeau, 34, was arrested and cited on suspicion of assault and robbery. He was scheduled to be arraigned Monday.

The Colchester Police Department was assisted at this scene by the Winooski Police Department. Anyone with information about the Colchester incident please contact the Colchester Police Department at 802-264-5555.

Anyone with any information about the Winooski crime is asked to call the city's police department at 655-0221 or to contact Crime Stoppers at 864-6666 or toll free 1-800-427-8477.