A Rome police detective said Friday he believes a series of armed robberies in Cartersville and Rome are likely related.

The Tuesday night robbery of a Marathon station and the early Wednesday holdup of a BP station in Bartow County may be connected to the Tuesday morning robbery of a Rome BP station, said Rome police detective Pete Sailors.

“Just the mode of operation of the robberies, the time they occurred, the fact that two of the suspects in the Cartersville robbery lived in Rome,” Sailors said Friday in explaining his hunch.

Six suspects had been arrested by Friday night in connection with a robbery at the Cartersville Cowboy’s BP station, 1361 Joe Frank Harris Parkway. Two of them are also charged in the robbery of the Marathon on West Avenue, according to the Cartersville Police Department.

Police said two masked gunmen held up a Cartersville Marathon station at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. Around 4½ hours later, four masked robbers stormed a BP statioLataliyia Rodshea Ford

n in Bartow, robbed the store, shot a customer, kidnapped a clerk and stole a Cadillac.

Robbers released the clerk a short distance from the store unharmed.

Police didn’t say who pulled the trigger in the shooting of David Lamar Padgett, who remained at Grady Memorial Hospital on Friday night.

The Rome robbery occurred close to 1:45 a.m. Tuesday, Rome police reported. Two men wearing all-black clothing, gloves and masks — one appeared to be wearing a ski mask and the other a toboggan with eyeholes cut out — entered Cowboy’s, 1425 Turner McCall Blvd. One put a pistol to the clerk’s head and demanded she open the safe. When she told them she did not have access to it, they grabbed $156 in lottery tickets, four packs of cigarettes and a Honey Bun before leaving.

The latest arrests came Thursday afternoon with Bryant Demetrius Lynch, 19, of Rome and Lataliyia Rodshea Ford, 17, of Cartersville.

Lynch was arrested shortly after noon Thursday after authorities stopped the vehicle he was in at Shorter Avenue and South Hanks Street. Lynch was charged in the armed robbery of the Cartersville Cowboy’s BP robbery.

He was charged with two counts armed robbery, two counts aggravated assault, one count aggravated battery, one count kidnapping, three counts false imprisonment, one count theft by taking (motor vehicle) and one count possession of firearm during commission of a crime.

Ford was arrested around 6 p.m. Thursday at the Cartersville Police Department for her alleged involvement in the armed robbery at the Cartersville Cowboy’s BP. Ford is charged with party to a crime to the following offenses: two counts armed robbery, two counts aggravated assault, one count aggravated battery, one count kidnapping, three counts false imprisonment, one count theft by taking (vehicle) and one count possession of fire during commission of a crime.

She was also charged for the following offenses related to the Marathon robbery — party to a crime armed robbery and party to a crime possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.

Shammi Jadooram, 17, of Cartersville; Aleakeem Petersen, 21, of Powder Springs; and Jomandi Fisher, 19, of Paris Drive in Rome, were arrested in Bartow County just before midnight Wednesday. Jomandi’s brother Niko Fisher, 17, also of Paris Drive, was arrested by Rome-Floyd County SWAT officers shortly after 2 a.m. Thursday morning.

All four were charged in connection with the Cartersville Cowboy’s BP robbery, and Petersen was additionally charged Thursday in connection with the incident at Marathon.

All have been charged with two counts armed robbery, two counts aggravated assault, one count aggravated battery, one count kidnapping, three counts false imprisonment, one count theft by taking (motor vehicle) and one count possession of firearm during commission of a crime.

Petersen was also charged Thursday with another count armed robbery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime related to the Marathon robbery.