A $100,000 reward has been posted as detectives draw a common thread between a robbery in Sunshine West and another in Sunbury last year.
Armed crime squad detectives also released CCTV footage of the incidents, which happened last October and December.
In the first incident, an armed man forced his way into a factory in North View Drive, Sunshine West, about 5am on October 8. He confronted a female employee and shot at her, injuring her arm.
When police arrived, he held the woman while edging towards a motorbike, threatening police before releasing the woman and fleeing.
It’s believed the same offender then held up a café on Elgar Road in Derrimut with the same long-arm firearm, stealing cash, about 5.25am.
Investigators have now linked these incidents with an armed robbery at Sunbury McDonald’s and a failed holdup beforehand at another McDonald’s just off the Calder Freeway.
It is believed the Sunbury robbery on December 1 involved three offenders, who held up a cash delivery driver just after 6am. Two of the three offenders carried firearms.
The armed crime squad’s Detective Inspector Stephen Clark said the director of public prosecutions may offer indemnity to bona fide informants.