Superhero bandit targets Gwinnett cell phone stores

Gwinnett police say the man apparently masquerading as the Marvel “Wolverine” character is no superhero.

Instead he is the suspect in a series of armed robberies that have targeted two cell phone stores.

In the last one on Dec. 6, he robbed a T-Mobile store in the Norcross Village Shopping Center on Buford Highway while donning a yellow sweatshirt with light-blue sleeves, Gwinnett police said.

“This sweatshirt appeared to be part of a “Wolverine” Marvel character costume,” the police said in a statement.

For the uninitiated, the Wolverine is the name for the fictional mutant character James Howlett, commonly known as Logan, who possesses the keen senses of an animal, extraordinary physical powers and the capability to heal at an accelerated rate from virtually any wound, poison or disease. A Canadian with a colorful and complicated past, he has gigs with the Avengers and the X-Men.

Police mentioned nothing about the Gwinnett bandit possessing any special characteristics, but said he is a suspect in three additional robberies.

• About 2:15 p.m. Nov. 22, the suspect entered the T-Mobile business and produced a black semi-automatic handgun and robbed the cash register. He didn't have a getaway car and video surveillance suggested he entered the shopping center from the area of the Huntington Ridge apartment complex, the complex located directly behind the business.