Staff report
SPENCER ó A clerk at the Country Cupboard ducked behind the counter when a robber shot at her early Monday morning.
In what police are describing as one of the most violent robberies in memory, three men entered the store at 701 North Salisbury Ave. around 6:30 a.m., shortly after the store opened.
Sgt. Eric S. Ennis of the Spencer Police Department said all three men were armed, two with pistols and a third with some type of long gun.
There were no customers in the store at the time.
Ennis said one of the men grabbed the clerk by the face and demanded money.
After she was forced to open the safe, the clerk heard one of the men tell the other guys to shoot her, according to Ennis.
At that point she ducked and the bullets went over her head.
Another clerk who was in the back of the store when the robbers entered called 911 when she realized what was happening.
Ennis said Spencer police were on the scene within a minute after they received the call, but the men and the car were gone.
Police found three bullets.
The robbers are described as black males wearing black toboggans. One was wearing a grey hoodie or sweat shirt and another suspect had a black bandanna over his face. He was also wearing a grey hoodie jacket.
“These are very violent individuals,” Ennis said. “The clerk is very lucky that they didn’t hurt her or kill her.”
The clerk escaped with only a scratch.
Witnesses told police that the suspects were driving a gold or silver vehicle, possibly a late model Chrysler or Dodge.
The direction of travel was unknown, possibly toward Interstate 85 on Long Ferry Road.
Someone saw a vehicle that may have matched the description parked at a nearby location around 6 a.m.
Anyone who may have seen this vehicle or the suspects in the area of Long Ferry Road near the Country Cupboard early Monday is asked to contact Ennis at the Spencer Police Department at 704-633-3474.