STATESVILLE, N.C. — Police in Statesville are investigating three violent armed robberies at Dollar General stores.
Over the last 10 days, three different stores have been robbed, including the Dollar Generals at 922 Shelton Ave., 1500 West Front Street, and 1703 Wilkesboro Blvd.
Channel 9′s Dave Faherty learned that two of the armed robberies happened minutes apart.
Witnesses at one store say the masked suspects were only there for two minutes, demanding money and threatening the life of one of the workers.
That description is similar to another robbery at another Dollar General store where Channel 9 learned the suspects pointed a gun at the head of one of the clerks.
Customers like Richard Cassell and Delores Brown were stunned to hear about the amount of violence at the stores.
“They got a problem to take something from other people that don’t belong to you,” Cassell said. “It’s not right.”
Brown said, “There’s no heart there ... You don’t go rob nobody.”
The thefts come a week after police released a surveillance photo from a third Dollar General robbery along Wilkesboro Boulevard. Police say a man armed with a gun demanded money and then forced the clerk to open a safe.
At the store along Shelton Avenue, Faherty could see where workers posted a sign asking customers to take off hats, masks, and hoodies before entering the store.
Shakeria Evans has worked as a clerk at discount stores in the past. She says she was always on guard.
“(It) actually happened to my coworker and she was in fear,” Evans said. “It can be traumatizing. I would cooperate. I wouldn’t want to get myself in an altercation where I could get myself hurt.”
Channel 9 has not been able to find out from the police if they believe these robberies are connected. We did learn that police have stepped up patrols at Dollar General stores in Statesville.
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