By By MARY-ALLISON LANCASTER – Managing Editor
Escambia County Sheriff officials are still trying to determine whether an armed robbery in the Damascus community last week is in any way connected to an armed robbery in Andalusia nearly an hour later.
Maj. Mike Murphy said Friday his officers have been unsuccessful obtaining a positive identification on the alleged suspect, and witnesses haven't been able to pinpoint who was in the vehicle with the alleged suspect.
The Country Store on Highway 29 was robbed at gunpoint June 1. The alleged suspect was last seen fleeing from the store and getting into a white Ford F150 pickup truck with tinted windows and an Alabama firefighter license.
The suspect then headed toward Covington County, Murphy said.
Witnesses said they had seen the truck parked outside the store earlier and saw two black females inside the truck after it left.
As investigators combed the area, Covington County officials reported after 3 p.m. that the manager of the TitleMax Title Pawn store, also on Highway 29, was robbed at gunpoint and shot at. The manager was not injured.
Covington County officials have obtained a security camera videotape from the pawn store as evidence.
Authorities are still trying to determine whether there is a connection between the two incidents.
The suspect is described as a 6-foot black male of average build. Anyone with information about the armed robbery should contact the Escambia County sheriff's office at 867-0304.