Man with knife robs grocery

By Cleve Wiese

Published: June 17, 2008

DOOMS — A man wielding a knife robbed the Eastside Grocery Store on Route 340 Tuesday afternoon in Dooms, making off with an undisclosed amount of money, police said.
The culprit entered the business at about 1:50 p.m. brandishing the eight-inch blade, shut the door behind him and ordered, “Open them up,” referring to the store’s two cash registers, clerk Amanda Lotts, 34, said.
“I was terrified,” Lotts said. “All I could think about was the knife in his hand.”
The robber, whose face was covered by a black bandana or do-rag with cut-out eye holes, moved behind the counter and began stuffing cash into his pockets, dropping some on the floor in his haste, Lotts said. After collecting all the money, the culprit fled on foot, she said.
Tony Mize, 34, of Waynesboro, was stepping out of his pickup truck in front of the store when the sprinting suspect nearly knocked him over, he said. When Mize realized what was happening, he took off in pursuit, following the culprit over a wire fence and through an adjacent mobile home park. Two other men joined in the chase as the robber, knife still in hand, ran west toward nearby railroad tracks before turning north and escaping, Mize said.
Shortly after the incident, officers and police dogs scoured the area.
“We’re currently searching as best we can with as much manpower as we can,” Augusta County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. T.W. Shifflett said.
Police described the suspect as standing 5 feet, 8 inches tall, weighing about 180 pounds, wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt, dark pants and dark sunglasses.
The East Side Grocery was the target of an attempted robbery June 8, when Jeremy Hamilton, 27, of Fishersville, allegedly entered the store and demanded cash before fleeing empty-handed after a customer came in
behind him. Hamilton was arrested later that day.
Lotts, a clerk at the store for the last four years, said she was at work there during the earlier incident.
“It scares me to death,” Lotts said. “It’s an itty-bitty store; everybody knows everybody. You’re like an extended family around here. That something like this could happen – it makes you look at things differently.”
Denise Johnson, 38, who lives directly across the street from the store, said the tight-knit Dooms neighborhood has always been the kind of place where people rarely lock their doors. The two robberies have all but shattered that prevailing sense of security, she said.
“If [the robber] did something like this is broad daylight, who’s to say he’s not going to break into somebody’s house or car?” Johnson said.