F’ville’s Bank of America, Tyrone’s Rite-Aid and Coleman’s Store in north Fayette hit Sunday night and Tuesday in unrelated incidents

by John Munford and Ben Nelms

Fayetteville police are looking for a suspect who robbed the Bank of America at gunpoint at 12:30 Tuesday afternoon.

The bank robbery was the third armed robbery in three days across Fayette County.

The suspect is described as a black male, about 5-feet-8-iches tall, 175 pounds. He was wearing an orange “South Pole” sweatshirt with gray sleeves and a dark colored baseball hat. He has a narrow face and a goatee, police said.

A photo of the suspect was captured by the bank’s security camera system.

The suspect fled the bank on foot towards Food Depot and Banks Road, police said initially.

The suspect got some cash from the bank, but police typically do not divulge how much in such investigations.

A K-9 unit was unable to track the suspect. The Fayette County Sheriff’s Department helicopter also participated in the search.

Across the county, three masked men held up the Rite-Aid pharmacy on Ga. Highway 74 and Palmetto Road Sunday night just before closing. No one was injured in the robbery.

Tyrone Detective Steve Lafferty said employees reported that three black males carrying handguns entered the store at approximately 9:45 p.m., just minutes before the pharmacy was due to close. Each of the men were wearing hoodies and masks so that only the area around their eyes was visible, Lafferty said, adding that the men also wore gloves.

Rite-Aid staff complied with the demand to let the men into the manager’s office, Lafferty said. The men fled the store with an undisclosed amount of cash, said Lafferty. Information pertaining to a possible getaway vehicle is currently unknown, he said.

“They seemed to know what they were doing,” Lafferty said, commenting on statements by a Rite-Aid loss prevention officer who said the specifics of the Tyrone robbery matched 14 to 15 other recent armed robberies of Rite-Aid stores across metro Atlanta.

Anyone with information relating to this armed robbery is asked to contact Tyrone Police at 770-487-4732.

In the third incident so far this week, sheriff’s deputies are looking for two men who robbed a convenience store on Ga. Highway 92 North at gunpoint late Sunday night.

An employee of Coleman’s Grocery had just closed the store and locked the doors when two men approached him in the store parking lot, sheriff’s officials said. The suspects displayed a silver handgun and forced the employee back inside the building, deputies said.

While inside, the suspects stole cash, lottery tickets and tobacco products, officials said. The department is not releasing the amount of cash that was taken.

Coleman’s Grocery is located on Hwy. 92 near Westbridge Road in northern Fayette County.

One suspect was described as a tall black male wearing a clear clown-type mask. The second suspect was described as a short black male.

Anyone with information about this crime is asked to contact Investigator Gunter with the sheriff’s department’s Criminal Investigation Division at 770-716-4814.