Gunmen rob two Caldwell businesses

Officers are searching for a pair of gunmen who robbed two Caldwell County businesses Saturday morning.

The men were armed with black pistols when they entered the Dari Frez restaurant at about 4:45 a.m. At about 6:30 a.m., the same men driving what appeared to be the same car, went almost seven miles south along U.S. 321A to a convenience store called Fast Stop where they struck again.

One of the gunmen attacked a customer in the store. The video surveillance shows him kicking and hitting the 59-year-old victim in the head with a pistol.

After the thieves made their getaway, the clerk called 911. Officers arrived and an ambulance took the customer to an area hospital where he was treated and released, said Sgt. Roger Crosby of the Granite Falls Police Department.

How did it happen?

Things started to go wrong as soon as the thieves were able to exploit the Dari Frez employees’ commitment to high-quality customer service.

The restaurant doesn’t open until 6 a.m., but two employees, both women in their early 20s arrived shortly before 5 a.m. to begin the prep work necessary to start their shift, said Dari Frez owner Chad Moore.

The second woman to arrive saw someone pull into the parking lot as she arrived. She went inside and locked the door behind her.

Minutes later two men knocked on the restaurant’s glass door. When the employee opened the door, the thieves pulled out their guns and demanded money.

“In the past, we’ve opened the door for customers who arrived before we opened – we let them in and cook them something – but that’s not going to happen anymore,” Moore said.

The Dari Frez’ video surveillance cameras showed the men come inside. One stayed near the front with his pistol in the woman’s face while the other can be seen going to the back with the second woman in search of cash.

Once the thieves got the money, they made the women kneel behind the counter and told them to wait five minutes before getting up or they’d be killed.

“That’s it – it took about a minute – we timed it on the video,” Moore said.

About a minute after the gunmen left, the women called 911.

“I was just glad these girls weren’t hurt,” Moore said.

While Moore and his employees were speaking to Hudson police officers, the radio call went out reporting a second robbery in Granite Falls.

Gunmen turn violent

The thieves struck again at about 6:30 a.m. at the Fast Stop convenience store.

Video surveillance shows the men wearing hooded sweatshirts and wearing what look like masks as they walk into the store with their guns drawn.

“At first I thought they were just kidding,” said Fast Stop clerk Paula Carlton who was in the store when it was robbed. “When I realized it was real, I tried to grab my cell phone to call 911, but they saw me and said ‘Don’t be a hero. Don’t be a hero.’”

They ordered the 59-year-old customer to the ground and the video shows that one of the men is immediately enraged when it appears that the customer is moving too slowly.

He walks over to the man and kicks him in the stomach and hits him on the top of the head with the pistol.

The thief hissed, “I should knock your brains out,” before hitting the unarmed customer, Carlton said.

Crosby said the victim did not lose consciousness and doesn’t expect him to suffer any long-term effects from the beating.

One of the thieves can be seen grabbing cash from the register while the second man goes behind the counter to loot the safe.

“Give me everything you have – I’m not stupid – I know there’s a safe back there. Give me all your money,” Carlton remembers one of the men saying to her. “It’s not you, honey – you just happened to be in the wrong place – just give us all your money.”

She cooperated and they stuffed their pockets with cash.

As they left, one of the men grabbed a 10-foot string of $20 lottery tickets. Police are hoping to use the 15 stolen tickets to track the thieves.

Carlton called 911 as the thieves left in the white sedan they’d arrived in.

The robbery took less than two minutes. Carlton said it felt like 10.

She finished her shift and plans to keep her job at the store because, in today’s economy, she’s afraid she won’t be able to find another.

“I’m going to take self-defense classes,” Carlton said. “I have three boys to worry about.”

Crosby said she did the right thing during the robbery.

“We always recommend employees to be cooperative and obey any commands given so that the criminal will get what they want and leave,” he said.

The Hudson and Granite Falls police departments are working together on the robbery investigations.

The thieves are described as white males, aged 25 to 35 years old, weighing 180 to 200 pounds and standing 5-feet 6-inches to 5-feet 10-inches tall. Both wore dark hooded sweatshirts. One man’s pants were camouflage. He wore black shoes. The other man’s pants were green, and he wore flip flops during the robbery.

Anyone with information about the robbery or the identity of the thieves is asked to call the Granite Falls Police Department at 396-3358, the Hudson police department at 728-5021 or Caldwell County Crime Stoppers at 758-8300.