CHARLESTON, SC NEWS - LIVE 5 WCSC Breaking News, Weather, SportsColleton residents still scared after robbery; no one arrested yet

Colleton residents still scared after robbery; no one arrested yet

By Tracey Amick  bio | email

COLLETON COUNTY, SC (WCSC) - Residents of Colleton County caught up in a convenience store armed robbery have been trying to regain the sense of security and safety they had before the robbery.

A trio of customers were in the Kangaroo store on Jeffries Highway near Walterboro around 9 p.m. on April 16 when two men in ski masks rushed into the store, showed a gun and ran out with cash from the store's register.

Cotton Higgins was in the store buying his daily soda when the robbery happened.

"I just walked in there, got a Coca-Cola, walking back to the counter. All of a sudden, two gunmen walked in, said, 'hit the floor,'" said Higgins.

Surveillance cameras caught the entire ordeal. While Higgins stood in line, the two suspects rushed the store. One of the men went for the back of the store and the other jumped the counter. The attendant dropped to the ground and the suspect cleared out the register. His accomplice returns and they run back out of the store.

Deputies said they used K-9 units to determine the men split up outside the front door and rejoined on the back side of the store. The dogs tracked the suspects' scent across Jeffries Highway and to the Bi-Lo parking lot.

At that point, the scent disappeared and deputies said it's likely they had a getaway vehicle waiting in the parking lot.

Detective Andre Williams said very little stood out in the surveillance video aside from the silver semi-automatic handgun one of the suspects carried.

"One had gloves, one didn't, but we could identify them through the ski mask eyes as white," he said.

Williams said he thinks they knew what they were doing. "The way they entered the store it was like they previously cased it and knew what they were coming for," said Williams.

Higgins said the robbery was quick -- less than a minute elapsed on the surveillance tapes -- but the memory still scares him.

"Was it scary? I hadn't slept since then hardly," said Higgins. "I been in this town 60 years I never seen anything like it."

Investigators have not made any arrests in the case and the case remains open. Call Crime Stoppers at 554-1111 to anonymously provide police with information on the case.

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