Crime & Safety
Detectives Seek Men in String of Convenience Store Burglaries
Deputies are asking for help identifying several men who broke into convenience stores in Lexington and West Columbia.
Officers are asking for help identifying several men wanted in a string of convenience store burglaries on Augusta Road and Sunset Boulevard.Â
Lexington County Sheriff's Department and Lexington Police Department detectives are looking for as many as five men who committed six robberies at five 24-hour convenience stores between May 23 and July 12, according to the sheriff's department.
Â
Between two and five men, all of whom are black, robbed the convenience stores between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m., according to the sheriff's department. In each robbery, the men covered their faces with cloths or masks.Â
Detectives say the men ran in the stores, forced clerks to open cash registers and stole an undetermined amount of money, tobacco products and beer before driving off.
Detectives also are asking for help finding two motor vehicles that might be connected to the convenience store robberies or might have been driven by someone who witnessed the robberies.Â
One vehicle is a light colored, four-door sedan, possibly a Toyota sedan or Chevrolet sedan, according to the sheriff's department. The sedan has tinted windows, and there are no hubcaps on the passenger’s side of the vehicle.
The second vehicle is a burgundy or red four-door sedan, possibly a Honda Civic or Buick Century, detectives say. The vehicle’s passenger’s side mirror is damaged.
The robberies happened at the following locations:Â
- a Pitt Stop convenience store at 3809Â Sunset Boulevard on May 23 and May 28
- a Hess Express convenience store at 3006 Augusta Road on June 20
- a Circle K convenience store at 2308 Augusta Road on June 23
- a Kangaroo Express convenience store at 3950 Augusta Road on July 8
- a Murphy Express convenience store at 4873 Augusta Road on July 12
The men stole money, cigarettes and beer. The men fled on foot towards Dooley Road, where detectives think that the men had parked a vehicle.
Anyone with information about the convenience store robberies or the men who robbed the stores should call the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department at 803-785-8230, the Lexington Police Department at 803-359-6260 or CrimeStoppers at 1-888-CRIMESC.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
