Police Search For 3 After Liquor Store Robbery

GASTONIA, N.C.,None — Police are searching for three men who robbed a Gastonia liquor store Monday afternoon.

Police said the men pretended to be customers at the ABC store at Edgewood Road and Franklin Boulevard. Once they were at the register, one man pulled out a gun.

They forced a store manager and employee into the back of the store during the incident. No customers were inside the store at the time.

On their way out of the store, the robbers dropped rolled change. Amanda Worthey saw them drop the money and thought it seemed strange.

"It was weird that the guy left it," she said.

It worried her, so she went inside the store and found workers locked in the back, but OK.

Officers said the robbers stole the store manager's Nissan Altima. Another witness reported seeing the car less than a mile away from the ABC store and said the men inside looked like they were wiping away fingerprints. The witness, who did not want to identified, called 911, but the men were gone by the time police arrived.

Police said bold nature of the crime raises red flags, since it happened during daylight with people nearby.

Police released the following descriptions of the robbers:

• black male with facial hair, about 6 feet to 6 feet 3 inches, wearing a collared shirt and blue jeans, tan shoes

• black male, about 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet, wearing a white tank top, blue jeans, black hat with do-rag that has long tails down to lower back

• black male, 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 8 inches, overweight, green hat, do-rag and tan shirt

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Gastonia police at 704-866-6886 or Crime Stoppers at 704-861-8000.

An ABC store in Hickory was robbed Saturday afternoon. Police are looking into the possibility that the crimes may be connected. For more on the Hickory robbery, click here.

WSOC