Dollar General at Old Dock robbed, deputy in pursuit crashes

By DEUCE NIVEN

tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com

     Shots were fired during the armed robbery of a Dollar General in Old Dock Monday night, a sheriff’s deputy slightly injured in a vehicle pursuit that followed, Columbus County Sheriff Hatcher said in a Tuesday morning news release.

     Two men, both with guns, entered the store on Dock Road just off of NC 130 just after 9:40 p.m., their identity concealed by face coverings, the news release said.

     Demanding money from the store safe, the robbers were forced to wait because it was on a time delay, the news release said. Once the safe opened, the men emptied it, getting away with an undisclosed amount of money.

     Shots fired in the store were “an attempt to damage the surveillance system,” the report said.

     It was not clear from the news release if the surveillance system was disabled.

     Deputies got behind a “suspicious vehicle” following the robbery, engaged in a pursuit that ended when one of the sheriff’s vehicles was involved in a crash.

     That deputy “sustained minor injuries,” the news release said. An investigation into the crash is underway by the North Carolina Highway Patrol.

     Anyone with information on this robbery is asked to contact Det. Paul Rockenbach at Columbus County Sheriff’s Office at 910-640-6629.

Horry connection?

     There are similarities in the robbery Monday and an Oct. 19 incident in the Goretown community east of Loris, with the Dollar General there robbed at gunpoint.

     In both cases two men entered the store, demanded cash from the store safe, and fired shots to disable the store surveillance system.

     No one was injured during either robbery.

     Updates will be posted here as events warrant. See the full story in this week’s Tabor-Loris Tribune in print and online.