Authorities say that an East Boston man has been a very busy criminal, as he faces charges of back-to-back attempted robberies in Revere.

“I have a gun. No one is going to get hurt,” Isreal Bullard allegedly told a Target employee the afternoon of Jan. 9. His attempt failed, Suffolk County prosecutors say, and he walked out of the store.

Just as police officers were leaving the Target store, they were dispatched to the Citizens Bank inside Stop and Shop in the same shopping plaza. A bank employee told police that a man told him “this is a robbery” and then left the store after failing to get any money.

Surveillance stills of the would-be bank robber matched those of the would-be Target robber, according to police. The bank incident allegedly came 25 minutes before the Target one. They honed in on Bullard as their suspect through a local taxi company that he used to get to and from the plaza, prosecutors say.

Bullard, 63, was soon charged with two counts of attempted armed robbery and one count of assault with a dangerous weapon.

Chelsea District Court Judge Stuart Hurowitz released Bullard after his arraignment on Jan. 17. Bullard is due back in court on March 21.

“We want consumers to feel safe going in to stores and we want employees to feel safe going in to work,” Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden said in a statement. “Quality of life while shopping and working is the target goal for us, and working with police and retail partners is the best way to achieve that goal.”

Hayden’s office, the Boston Police Department, and regional retailer groups and small business owners last year launched the Safe Shopping Initiative — an effort to increase consumer safety and help store managers strategize responses to shoplifting and retail larcenies.