October 21st, 2016 by WCBC Radio

On October 20th at approximately 8:21pm deputies with the Allegany County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to the Westernport Dollar General located at 180 Church Street, Westernport, Allegany County, Maryland in reference to an armed robbery. Allegany County 911 advised they received a call reporting a white male with a thin build and goatee wearing a dark colored hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled up obstructing the view of his face, dark pants and hat entered the store talking on a cell phone. The male then waited for the cashier to open the cash register during a transaction and entered the employee only check out area, grabbed the cashier and attempted to gain accessto the cash register. The female cashier attempted to block the male from gaining access to the cash register. Upon noticing the incident a second female employee along with several customers attempted to detain the male and a struggle ensued. During the struggle several shelves containing merchandise were knocked over scattering merchandise on the floor. As the struggle continued the male displayed a knife and fearing for their lives the employees and customers let go of the male and he fled from the store on foot with a customer giving chase.

 

Upon the arrival of Allegany County Sheriff's Office deputies the scene was secured and a search of  the area was conducted with the assistance of the Maryland State Police, West Virginia State Police, Keyser City Police and Mineral County Sheriff's Office.  A search of the area yielded negative results. A request was made for a Mineral County Sheriff's Office K9 for tracking purpose. 

 

After an exhaustive search of the area utilizing the Mineral County Sheriff's Office K9 Unit and other law enforcement the search was discontinued. 

 

C3I Investigations were contacted and responded to the scene. Upon the arrival of the C3I investigator the scene was turned over to detectives. The case remains under investigation at this time. 

 

One person was treated at the scene by Tri Towns EMS for a head injury as a result of the struggle with the suspect.