There have been several recent armed robberies at Dollar General and O’Reilly Auto Parts stores in Tyrone and other areas of metro Atlanta. One at O’Reilly’s on Dec. 18 was different, coming with shots fired at an employee and at a Good Samaritan who rammed the robber’s vehicle as he attempted to flee the area. There were no injuries during the incident.
Above, from video surveillance, Tyrone police have photos of the robber running from the auto parts store (L) and the robber in his getaway car that traveled south from Tyrone after the robbery. Photo/Ben Nelms.
“The suspect then fired one round into the citizen’s rear driver’s side window, almost striking a young child in the head,” Tyrone police said.
The most recent armed robbery occurred Dec. 18 at approximately 8 a.m., at the O’Reilly’s Auto Parts store on Tyrone Road near Ga. Highway 74 in Tyrone.
Tyrone Police Department spokesperson Andrea Johnson-McCoy said a black male weighing 200 pounds and 6 feet, 5 inches in height entered the store’s back door and demanded the store’s money from the three employees inside. The man then took money from the cash registers after locking the front door.
It was during the incident that another employee entered the store through the rear door, perhaps startling the perpetrator, said Johnson-McCoy, adding that the robber fired a shot at the employee.
The employee was not struck but did exit the store, then fell to the ground and began yelling for help, Johnson-McCoy said.
McCoy-Johnson said the robber then exited the store and entered a light blue Hyundai Sonata that had been parked near the rear of the store.
A Good Samaritan heard the call for help and, seeing the robber in his car, used his own vehicle to ram the Sonata. It was then that the robber fired one shot from inside his car that struck the Good Samaritan’s vehicle but caused no injury, Johnson-McCoy said.
The robber fled the scene in the Sonata which sustained damage to the driver’s side and rear.
The same store was the subject of an armed robbery near closing time on Dec. 4, said Johnson-McCoy, adding that O’Reilly’s stores in Villa Rica and Douglasville have also been robbed recently.
Other armed robberies in Tyrone included two late evening incidents at the Dollar General store on Senioa Road on Dec. 26 and 29, and one at the nearby Shell station on Nov. 27. All occurred near closing time.
Police Chief Brandon Perkins said an Atlanta man who recently robbed the Dollar General store on Pine Road near Newnan was subsequently taken into custody by Coweta County sheriff’s deputies in northeast Coweta.
Perkins said Michael Brandon Taylor admitted to robbing Dollar General stores in Tyrone and Coweta.
The passenger in Taylor’s vehicle, David White, has an arrest warrant issued for him, Perkins said.
