GRANITE FALLS, N.C.,None — The gunmen who robbed a pair of Caldwell County businesses Saturday morning are still at large.
Investigators from the Granite Falls and Hudson police departments have joined forces to find and arrest the thieves.
“We’re working hand in hand because we’re 100 percent sure that these incidents are connected,” said Sgt. Roger Crosby of the Granite Falls Police Department. “I’m confident that we will make an arrest.”
The gunmen they are after robbed the Dari Frez restaurant in Hudson at about 4:45 a.m. on Saturday. At about 6:30 a.m., the same men robbed the Fast Stop convenience store in Granite Falls about seven miles south of their first target.
During the Fast Stop robbery, the thieves kicked a 59-year-old customer and hit him in the head with a pistol. The victim was treated and released at an area hospital.
As they left the Fast Stop, one of the men paused long enough to snatch 15 lottery tickets valued at $20 each. Officers notified the North Carolina Lottery of the theft in the hopes that they could track the thieves if they tried to redeem the tickets.
So far none of the stolen tickets have been redeemed, Crosby said.
The public has responded to the robbery by phoning in tips to the detectives working on the case. Crosby and Sgt. Richard Blevins of the Hudson Police Department are working to investigate and verify the 15 to 20 tips that have come in so far.
The officers have also released enhanced photos taken from surveillance footage filmed during the robberies. They hope the new images will spark more tips that will help them track the gunmen down.
Anyone with information about the robberies or the identity of the suspects is asked to call the Granite Falls Police Department at 396-3358, the Hudson police department at 728-5021 or Caldwell County Crime Stoppers at 758-8300.