Sheriff H. Warren Manning reported that Friday at about 4:23 p.m., the sheriff’s office received a call from the Tri Area Pharmacy on Route 58 in Laurel Fork about an armed robbery that had occurred.
According to the reports from employees, a man about 6-feet tall and 180 to 200 pounds with collar-length brownish-red hair entered the pharmacy wearing tree-stand-type camouflage bibs, a long sleeve camouflage T-shirt, gloves and a ski mask.
The man produced a hand gun and began shouting, “This is a robbery,” and demanded that everyone stay back and not to push any buttons or he would shoot them, Manning reported.
Once the robber was behind the counter, he demanded that the pharmacist open the safe where controlled drugs are kept, and he began to rake the items into a black trash bag from the safe. While he was knelt near the safe, one of the employees came up from behind him and a fight between the robber and the employee ensued.
Manning said the employee knocked the robber to his back on the floor, and once he was on his back, another employee joined in an attempt to wrestle the gun from the robber’s hand. During the incident, the gun discharged, striking a counter, but none of the employees were hurt.
After the discharge of the handgun, everyone left the robber alone, and he jumped back across the counter and left through the same door he entered, Manning said.
The robber left the pharmacy on foot running to the back side of the building into a wooded area, and a short time later, a person reported seeing the robber leaving a field near the wooded area driving a 1995-1998 white Ford Ranger truck with extended cab. No visible front license plate could be seen. Manning said the vehicle should be covered with a large amount of mud.
Anyone who sees the suspected robber should take caution, because he is considered armed and dangerous, Manning said.
Anyone with information should contact the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office at (276) 728-4146 or (276) 236-5119.
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