Wilson police are looking for two people who may be the same ones involved in the Village Grocery robbery attempt on March 21.

Left, the car in the lot. Right, the suspect.

Sergeant John Slaughter of the Wilson Police Department said on Tuesday at approximately 6:15 p.m. officers were dispatched to Griffin’s Food Store located at 2402 Nash Street about an armed robbery that just occurred.  Officers arrived on scene and learned that a black male suspect entered the store and approached the counter.

The suspect then displayed a gun and demanded money from the clerk. The clerk handed over money from the cash register and the suspect then left the store.

Witnesses saw the suspect get into a gold or champagne color SUV, later identified as a Kia Sportage, driven by a white female that was parked near Car Quest, which is located near the incident location.

The suspect is described as a black male, wearing a black hooded jacket, blue jeans and black shoes or boots.

During the investigation, detectives were able to view the surveillance video, which shows the female that was driving the suspect vehicle.

The video shows the female entered the store an hour before the robbery.  The female suspect is described as a white female, with dark hair, black coat, white shirt, dark pants and dark shoes.

Slaughter noted Wilson and Roanoke Rapids are working on the case.

He said images from surveillance video from both the incident in Roanoke Rapids and the Wilson incident clearly show that these are the same two suspects.

Similar to the Wilson incident, the white female entered the Village Grocery at the Highway 48 and Jackson Street extension an hour before the male suspect attempted to rob the business.

If anyone has any information regarding these incidents or recognizes the suspects from the surveillance images are asked to contact the Wilson Police Department at 252-399-2323 or Crime Stoppers at 252-243-2255.

In the Roanoke Rapids case, police are trying to determine whether the vehicle, either champagne or silver, had North Carolina or other out of state license tags, including Florida.

The vehicle drove around in the storage unit lot and dropped the suspect off. It hid between the storage units and picked up the man right at the entrance to the storage units as he came up the hill.

The suspect in the morning robbery attempt pulled the trigger of his gun three times as a convenience store clerk tried to comply with his demands.

The gunman apparently got nervous when the gun did not fire and fled the Village Grocery without any money.

The attempt occurred around 11:45 a.m. when the man entered the store wearing a black hooded jacket and black pants.

He pulled out a silver handgun that appeared to be a revolver and demanded money. As the clerk tried to comply, the man pulled the trigger three times. The gun, however, did not fire.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call Crimestoppers at 252-583-4444, Detective Corey Griffin at 252-326-1233 or Detective Jeff Baggett at 252-326-3941.