<p align="LEFT"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">LADY’S ISLAND, SC (July 26, 2011/11:30 AM) – The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office is investigating last night’s armed robbery of a Lady’s Island convenience store.<!--more--></span></span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Just after midnight, Sheriff’s deputies responded to the Circle K (114 Sea Island Pkwy) in reference to an armed robbery occurring moments earlier. Upon arrival, deputies made contact with a store employee who advised that the store had just been robbed by black male armed with rifle.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">According to the clerk, she had been in the back of the store emptying the trash and when she returned to front a black male wearing a white t-shirt, black pants and a black scarf over his face was standing near register. The suspect, with a rifle in one hand and a plastic bag in the other, demanded the money from register. The clerk complied, handing over an undisclosed amount of cash. The suspect then fled, leaving clerk unharmed.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A witness who had been walking to the store at the time of the robbery advised that he had seen a second suspicious black male also armed with a rifle waiting near a red Chrysler Sebring convertible. Following the robbery, the witness observed both suspects run to the convertible and flee the area turning onto Sam’s Point Rd.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A deputy responding to the call observed the Chrysler traveling on Sam’s Point Rd towards Brickyard Point Rd and attempted to conduct a traffic stop. The driver refused to stop, leading deputies on a brief chase that ended when the vehicle ran off the road, wrecking in grassy area. Both suspects fled on foot, jumping a fence and disappearing into a wooded area, where they evaded capture.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="LEFT"><span style="color: #545454;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Two rifles were recovered from the abandoned vehicle, and investigators are working to identify the two suspects. Anyone with information is asked to contact either Investigator Sgt. J. Gobel at 843-255-3421 or the Beaufort County Dispatch Center at 843-524-2777.</span></span></span></p>