By John Howell Sr.

Panola County Sheriff’s Department investigators need help with an armed robbery that occurred in a convenience store north of Como on June 16.

The store clerk was alone in the In-A-Hurry Store at 29598 Highway 51, near the Tate County line, when she heard the door open. She went to the front of the store to assist the customer, according to the investigator’s incident report, who asked her if the store sold biscuits.

When the clerk said “no,” the customer left.

Shortly afterwards, after the clerk had walked to the back of the store to continue stocking the cooler, she heard another customer enter and walked toward the front of the store. As she approached, she saw a man leaning over the front counter, taking money from the cash register, the report stated.

When the clerk shouted at the man, “What are you doing?” he turned around with a knife and asked her “where was the money in the blue bag?”

“When she said she didn’t know anything about a blue bag, he turned and ran out of the store,” according to the report, and “ran behind the store not to be seen again.”

The Sheriff’s Department is offering a cash reward through Crimestoppers of North Central Mississippi for information that leads to the arrest of the person(s) responsible. Anyone with information can call 1-800-729-2169. No name is required. The suspects face charges of armed robbery and also grand larceny since over $500 was taken in the robbery.

The clerk’s description stated that he was a black male wearing a black mask. He was dressed in black shorts, a black shirt and black shoes, she told sheriff’s department investigator Albert Perkins.

The victim described the weapon as a kitchen knife with a 7 to 8 inch blade.

Perkins also thinks the female who entered the store immediately prior to the robbery may have been involved, he said. She may have scouted the premises to make sure the clerk was by herself. The only description of the second suspect is that she was a black female.

The robbery at In-A-Hurry followed the June 3 robbery at the E and R Store at 30446 Highway 51 North. In that robbery, two gunmen wearing ski masks approached store employees as they were leaving and forced them back into the building. The employees fired shots at the gunmen who then escaped in a car driven by an accomplice.