Philadelphia police to give update on string of armed robberies

The Philadelphia Police Department plans to provide an update Thursday afternoon on a string of early-morning robberies that occurred earlier this month in Center City, North Philly and Northern Liberties.

According to police, the suspects in all but one of the eight robberies used handguns with light attachments. They appeared to target people who were carrying bags, authorities said.

CBS News Philadelphia will stream the scheduled 2 p.m. news conference in the video player on this story and on our YouTube channel.

The first of the robberies happened Oct. 2 at 1800 W. Norris St., where two suspects took a man's watch, two silver chains and a medallion, Philadelphia Police Capt. Jason Smith said during a news conference a few days later. The man had been sleeping in his car when he was targeted.

Suspects took bags and phones from their victims in five robberies that happened between 4:40 a.m. and 6:05 a.m. on Oct. 4 in Northern Liberties, Center City, Spring Garden and North Philadelphia. One of the robberies happened outside the Four Seasons Hotel in Center City.

On Oct. 6, three people robbed a 61-year-old woman near the Philadelphia Museum of Art before pointing a gun at a man near Temple University's campus.

"As you can see, this is just becoming more and more serious. I mean, any gunpoint robbery is a serious occurrence, but the way that these suspects are acting, it's only a matter of time before something really bad happens," Smith said at the time.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.