Fort Worth police

Man Suspected in 5 Robberies Arrested: Fort Worth Police

A man accused in a string of violent robberies across North Texas is behind bars in Oklahoma.

Fort Worth police said 28-year-old James Anderson is the man caught on surveillance video in connection with seven robberies in three cities Monday and Tuesday. After two aggravated robberies in Gainesville Tuesday, police put out an alert to authorities in Oklahoma. A truck, stolen in the first robbery, was located at WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Okla. Police believe he committed another burglary there in the parking lot, and Fort Worth police said Anderson was later arrested at a poker table inside the casino.

The crime spree started Monday when an arrest warrant shows Anderson approached an employee in the Walmart parking lot on West Berry Street in Fort Worth. According to the warrant, he brandished a large knife and said, “I don’t want to kill you.” Anderson is accused of stealing the man's truck and wallet.

Police said Anderson then used the stolen truck in an attempted robbery in which he used a knife to threaten a mother and her children in the 5300 block of Trail Lake Drive. The mother accidently honked the horn and scared Anderson off, police said.

A short time later, a man fitting the same description as Anderson stabbed a man in the back in the Home Depot parking lot on White Settlement Road. The victim, who didn’t want to be identified, told NBC 5 he was getting something out of his vehicle when he was stabbed. At first, he wasn’t sure what happened, but said the suspect then told him to give up his wallet or he would be stabbed again. The man was hospitalized and received five stitches.

“This guy was extremely dangerous because the violence he displayed in committing these robberies, the time that he committed these robberies – the fact that they were in broad daylight,” said Fort Worth Police Detective Brian Raynsford.

The next morning, Tuesday, the same suspect in the same truck allegedly used a knife to rob a woman in the parking lot of Home Depot in the 7900 block of South Freeway, police said, and later was accused of robbing someone at a gas station in Euless.

“Motive right now is unknown," said Raynsford. “We are still in the early stages of our investigation.”

Police were able to search the stolen truck and recovered a large knife.

NBC 5's Todd L. Davis contributed to this report.

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