SALISBURY — Police are looking for a man who tried to rob a Walmart cashier early Monday morning dressed like a woman. About a half hour later, authorities believe the same man tried to rob a Lexington Food Lion.
The Walmart incident occurred at 2:51 a.m. when a black man with long black hair and wearing women’s clothing approached a clerk at a register. He gave the clerk some cigarette lighters and told her to open up her register as if he were paying for the items. He also demanded money from the register.
“She refused to open the drawer and backed away,” said Salisbury Police Capt. Shelia Lingle.
The suspect went to the register and unsuccessfully tried to open it. The clerk yelled for the customer service manager and the would-be robber ran out of the store. The man got into the passenger side of a late-model Pontiac and the driver took off toward East Innes Street.
Lingle said the would-be robber didn’t display a handgun, but he put his hand inside a pocketbook as if he had one.
Lingle confirmed late Monday it appeared the same suspect was involved in an attempted robbery in Lexington. The Lexington Dispatch reported a man dressed as a woman walked into a Food Lion store near the U.S. 52 and U.S. 64 interchange Monday morning and demanded money. The man said he had a handgun, but no gun was shown. Nothing was taken from the store. He left in a white four-door vehicle.
Lingle said the man was in his early- to mid-20s, wearing a black shirt, blue jeans and a pink belt. Anyone with information is asked to contact Salisbury Police at 704-638-5333 or Crime Stoppers at 866-639-5245.