Law enforcement officers may have a lead on the individual responsible for an armed robbery early Wednesday morning at the Gulf gas station at the intersection of the 441 Bypass and Industrial Boulevard in Baldwin.
At approximately 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning, Oct. 8, a man entered the convenience store and, displaying a firearm, demanded money from the clerk. The suspect took the cash drawer and lottery tickets as well as cigarettes, according to police records. “Someone tried to cash lottery tickets from that bunch in Gainesville today,” Habersham Sheriff Joey Terrell told Now Habersham just before 5 p.m. Wednesday. “The Lottery Commission notified us and our investigators were sent down there. They are trying to pull video (from the Gainesville store).”
At this time, there is no identification of the individuals involved in the attempt to cash the tickets, or further information on the Gainesville link to the Baldwin robbery. However, a burglary at a liquor store in Mount Airy committed in the overnight hours of the same night is believed to be the work of the same individual. “We believe, from some store video footage and other things, that the same person did the liquor store burglary that committed the robbery (at the Gulf Station),” Terrell says.
According to the store clerk and store security video images, the suspect is a black male who was wearing a black “hoodie” jacket with fur on it, and a mask. “She (the clerk) said he had something over his face, but she could see his eyes,” Terrell says, adding that additional reports have been made that may be connected to the case. “We had some video from another store we are looking at, of a black male being suspicious. We’ve had a couple different stores that notified us of that, so we’re following up on that,” Terrell says. “There is also a black or dark color small SUV, possibly a Jeep, that was seen around one of these stores, kinda acting funny, so that’s maybe another piece of the puzzle.”
An attempted break-in at Gene’s Pawn Shop in Cornelia occurred on the same night as the burglary and armed robbery. “We don’t know if that is related,” Terrell says, adding that the Cornelia Police Department is handling the pawn shop case. Gene’s Pawn Shop, located on Old Cleveland Road in Cornelia, was the site of a smash-and-grab style firearms theft on April 25 of this year. According to case records, a van stolen from a church outside Atlanta was used to smash into the pawn shop in the early morning hours, and several weapons were stolen. The same van was used several hours later in a similar style burglary at a clothing store in Southwest Atlanta.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Atlanta Field Division acted as the lead agency in the firearms theft, and offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspects. The National Shooting Sports Foundation offered a matching $10,000 reward. An arrest has not yet been made in that case but Cornelia Police say there is no connection between the attempted break-in earlier this week and the smash-and-grab in April. They say they are hoping for an update from the ATF on the April 25 robbery in the near future.
Anyone with information regarding Wednesday’s robbery and/or burglaries, or anyone seeing a person matching the suspect’s description “acting suspiciously” around convenience stores in Cornelia or Balwin should contact a law enforcement agency, Terrell says.
The Habersham County Sheriff’s Office can be reached at 706-839-1724, the Baldwin Police Department contact number is 706-776-5256, and the Cornelia Police Department can be contacted at 706-778-8585.
