Police are searching for two suspects accused of robbing a southwest Atlanta store Saturday and using bear spray against an employee who tried to stop them.
The incident took place at a Dollar General at 2310 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive around 4 p.m., according to a report shared by Atlanta police. Witnesses said the suspects were both men, but one was wearing a long, black wig.
The store employee who took the brunt of the bear and pepper spray attack was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital.
According to the incident report, the man’s eyes were both swollen shut and he was having difficulty breathing when officers arrived. As a result, he was not able to provide a statement, but his condition quickly improved once he received treatment at the hospital.
Another store employee told officers that when the two suspects entered the store, she assumed they were normal shoppers, the report said. However, she said she overheard them talking near the front of the store, where one said he wasn’t “worried about the female, but the big guy in the front, I got something for him.”
The woman texted her co-worker, but he returned inside before reading her message and tried to stop the suspects from leaving with their shopping cart full of goods, the report said. In response, one suspect pulled out bear spray and the other pulled out pepper spray, and both sprayed the employee, according to the report.
The suspects then began loading their car with stolen goods, police said. The second employee said she was not sure what they had stolen but that it appeared their car was loaded with cooking utensils, pots, pans, cleaning supplies and a couple of trash cans, the report said.
They drove away in a white Chrysler 300 headed east on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive before officers arrived, police said.
Investigators have released photos of the suspects taken from security camera footage inside the store. Police are asking anyone who recognizes them or knows their location to contact them.
Anyone with information can also submit a tip anonymously to the Crime Stoppers Atlanta tip line at 404-577-TIPS (8477), or online at www.StopCrimeAtl.org. Tipsters do not have to give their name or any identifying information to be eligible for the reward of up to $2,000 for the arrest and indictment of the suspects.
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