By Steve Huffman
shuffman@salisburypost.com
SPENCER ó Spencer Police say they have few leads concerning suspects involved in a shooting at a convenience store here earlier this week.
Three men robbed the Country Cupboard early Monday morning. The store is located at 701 N. Salisbury Ave., at Salisbury Avenue’s intersection with Long Ferry Road.
After the store clerk opened the safe and gave the thieves money, one of the thieves shot at the woman. She’d ducked and the bullet went over her head.
Sgt. Eric Ennis, who is leading the investigation for the Spencer Police, said the clerk thought she may have recognized one of the thieves from an earlier visit to the store.
But Ennis said the thief in question apparently entered the store and purchased a soft drink only a few minutes before he and the two others returned to commit the crime.
Ennis said it’s not clear if the clerk remembers the thief from that visit just prior to the robbery, of if the man had entered the store before Monday.
“She thinks he’d been in the store, but she doesn’t remember when,” Ennis said.
The suspects are described as black males all wearing black toboggans. One wore a gray hoodie jacket or sweat shirt, and another had a black bandanna over his face as well as a gray hoodie of his own.
Ennis said another employee was in the back of the store and called 911 when the shots were fired. Police were at the store within a minute, but the thieves were gone.
Two of the thieves had handguns and the third had a long gun. Police had three bullets.
Police say the trio may have been riding in a gold or silver vehicle, possibly a late-model Chrysler of Dodge. They may have taken Long Ferry Road toward Interstate 85, but police aren’t sure of that.
Ennis said the viciousness of the crime is alarming.
“These are very violent individuals,” he said. “The clerk is very lucky that they didn’t hurt her or kill her.”
Ennis said the thieves were apparently casing the store prior to the robbery, possibly watching before the business opened.
Anyone who may have seen the suspects or vehicle is asked to call Ennis at the Spencer Police Department at 704-633-3574.
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Staff writer Jessie Burchette contributed to this story.