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Gaston County woman, 71, held at gunpoint, thrown to floor, dragged

GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — Gaston County police have released disturbing video that they hope will help them catch a man who they say held a 71-year-old woman at gunpoint, threw her to the floor and dragged her around a Gaston County home.

Police said the robbery was reported  at an illegal video poker operation in the basement of a home near Cherryville. Officers believe that the ages of the victims and cash from the machines made the house a target.

A security camera in the home captured a man opening the door and aiming a gun at the women inside.

(Click PLAY to watch surveillance video from inside home)

“That gun was on my head so fast,” said victim Jerry Shepherd.

Shepherd, 71, was just off camera, but the man can be seen grabbing her by the neck.

“It scared me. It scared me to death,” she said.

The man tossed Shepherd to the floor at the feet of an 83-year-old woman.

“She said, ‘Jerry, I knew he was going to kill you right here in front of me,’” Shepherd said. “My daddy was murdered and shot one time in the back of the head and that’s all that was on my mind, I’m going to die like my daddy.”

(Click PLAY to watch Jerry Shepherd describe the terrifying moments)

The man grabbed some money while another man with a gun stood as the lookout. It ended when the man tried to take an elderly woman’s ring, and she'd had enough.

“She pepper-sprayed him. He didn’t get no ring,” Shepherd said.

There were seven people in the house during the robbery, and Gaston County police said they’re lucky that no one was seriously hurt.

“That’s about as bad as it gets,” said Capt. Curtis Rosselle. “It would be very easy for that to escalate and get into something even worse.”

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