Back-to-back incidents over the weekend in Fayetteville may not have been connected but they shared a couple of interesting similarities. The incidents involved two men with guns wearing masks in an aggravated assault at Zaxby’s and a kidnapping outside Tinseltown Theater. Investigations into both incidents are ongoing.

Fayetteville Police spokesperson Glenn Askew said the incident at Zaxby’s restaurant on North Glynn Street occurred Sept. 20 between 10:30-10:45 p.m. as an employee was taking trash out the back door.

Two men wearing black clothes, hoodies, gloves and Halloween masks and armed with handguns entered the store through the back door, Askew said.

The men held five employees at gunpoint while they determined that the restaurant’s office door was locked. The men left quickly, Askew said, having been in the store for less than a minute. Aggravated assault charges result from holding the employees at gunpoint.

The second incident occurred at 11:15 p.m. just up the road outside Tinseltown Theater at Fayette Pavilion. A man exiting his vehicle was abducted after two men in a dark colored SUV stopped, jumped out of their vehicle and forced the man into the SUV, Askew said. Both men had guns and were wearing masks, said Askew.

They drove to Deer Trail, behind Banks Station Shopping Center, where they dropped the man off after taking his pants and cell phone, said Askew. The kidnapped man was not injured, Askew said.

Fayetteville police are investigating both incidents.