Suspect Sought In Armed Robbery

September 8, 2005

Authorities are searching for a suspect involved in the armed robbery of an Oneida business Monday evening.

At shortly after 8 p.m., a male individual forced his way into the Oneida Dollar General Store, according to Oneida Police Chief Mike Cross, where he took money from a cash register and the store’s safe at gunpoint, using what “appeared to be” a black 9mm semi-automatic handgun.

Cora Queener, an Independent Herald staffer who is employed at the Dollar General Store, was one of two employees present when the suspect entered the building. Queener said that the man had been in the building just minutes earlier and had purchased a package of candy bars and and a pack of chewing gum and had exited the building. As another employee who was also present locked the door, the man asked to re-enter to purchase a soda, Queener said.

“He was told that we were closed and couldn’t come in,” Queener said. “He shoved the door and the next thing I knew, he was standing across the register from me, and said, ‘give me that money.’”

Queener said that the man was holding a handgun at his waist and pointing the barrel at her.

“I thought I was going to die,” she said. “I kept thinking, ‘he’s going to shoot me; Cora, you’re going to die.’ I thought I wasn’t going to get to see my grandchildren again.”

Queener said that after he took the money from the register, he led her and her fellow employee, as well as that employee’s husband, to the back of the store, where the safe is located, where he made the couple lie down on the floor and instructed Queener to open the safe.

“He said, ‘hurry up, I don’t want to have to hurt anybody,’” Queener said.

After the man took money from the safe, he disappeared from the store and employees dialed 9-1-1.

“We got the call at 8:10 p.m. and had officers arrive in less than three minutes,” Cross said. “The suspect was gone upon our arrival and we could find no witnesses that could tell us how he left or what he left in.”

Cross said that the suspect was a slender-built white male, around 5-11 to 6-0 in height and weighing around 150 pounds, with dark hair (probably curly). He was wearing a blue ballcap and a white t-shirt. Cross said that description matches the description of at least one of a pair of recent armed robberies in McCreary County.

“Business owners need to be very observant and aware of what’s going on around their place of business, and they need to contact us if they see anything at all suspicious,” Cross said.

Cross said that officers remained on the scene, collecting evidence and conducting an “extensive search” of the area, until 1 a.m.

After concluding their investigation at the scene, Cross said that officers have an idea of how the suspect left the area, but didn’t comment further.

Investigator Alan Reed is in charge of the investigation. The Scott County Sheriff’s Department also assisted OPD at the scene.

newsroom@ihoneida.com

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