An aborted armed robbery attempt at a Greenwood convenience store early this morning has landed a Pearl man in jail.
Nicholas Joseph Armstrong, 22, 2262 Upper Drive, Pearl, was being held at the Leflore County Jail this morning on charges of attempted armed robbery.
Greenwood Police Chief Ray Moore said Armstrong walked into the Landing convenience store at U.S. 82 and Humphrey Highway shortly after midnight wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and a black mask.
After a clerk at the store told Armstrong to remove the mask and hood inside the store, he told the store’s staff that he was there to rob them, Moore said.
Channing Hodges, the owner of the Landing, said the clerk walked to the register, called the other clerk and told the would-be robber — who, according to Moore, was carrying what appeared to be a gun — that she was calling the police.
“He said, ‘Never mind,’” Hodges said. “No money was ever even taken out of the drawer.”
Greenwood police and Leflore County sheriff’s deputies both responded to the scene, although the robber had already fled. Moore said Armstrong was apprehended about 30 minutes later in the 400 block of Carver Street.
A second man was also briefly suspected in the robbery and was arrested by police, but he was later released without charge after police caught up with Armstrong.
Hodges said he was pleased with how calmly the employees responded.
“They performed admirably. They did not panic,” he said.
Moore declined to say how authorities were able to identify Armstrong as the alleged masked robber, but Hodges did say that police reviewed security footage from cameras in the store.
Bond for Armstrong had not yet been set this morning.
• Contact Bryn Stole at 581-7235 or bstole@gwcommonwealth.com.
