Two Dollar General employees were held at gunpoint and robbed of over $2,000 last week in Bentonia.
Investigators believe the suspects are connected to a rash of robberies and burglaries that have occurred throughout Yazoo County over the last few months.
Bentonia Police Chief Jason Bright chased the suspects into Holmes County after last week’s robbery but lost them on a dusty gravel road.
Two suspects, with a third one in the vehicle, robbed the Dollar General on Highway 49 in Bentonia around 5:30 p.m. last Thursday.
“The suspects took the cashier and a stockman into a room and held them at gunpoint, demanding money,” Bright said. “No one was injured at the scene, but the suspects did get away with about $2,400 in cash.”
Moments after hearing the vehicle’s description over the radio, Bright passed the vehicle along the highway.
“I pursued them into Holmes County,” Bright said. “But once they got onto a gravel road, it became so dusty and hard to see that I just couldn’t stay behind them.”
Terry Gann, chief investigator with the Yazoo County Sheriff’s Department, said the recent armed robbery is connected to another armed robbery of the Dollar General in Benton several months ago. He also said the suspects are involved with a rash of burglaries that hit the Benton area a few months ago.
“It is the same group hitting these places, and we know they have hit Holmes County and Carroll County,” Gann said. “We are assisting the Bentonia Police Department as well because these suspects are armed and dangerous. We want to stop this before it continues and someone gets hurt.”
Gann also said he believes the suspects are from Holmes County.
“During last week’s chase, while in Yazoo County, they kept slowing down in their vehicles, as if they didn’t know where to go,” Gann said. “As soon as they hit Holmes County, they picked up speed and knew rural roads. They knew where they were going.”
