The suspect has a shotgun in one hand and a clown mask covering his face. After hitting a clerk with the gun, he orders another employee to hand over the store's money.
Curtis Daniels' country store was robbed for the first time since he bought it five years ago.
"It's just a little community place, basically serves the two neighborhoods on either side of it," he says. "You don't see a lot of people just traveling through here."
The mask covers the gunman's face, but not his entire head. Deputies say he is white with brown hair, probably stocky and short at about 5-and-a-half feet tall.
They believe the same man held up a store a few miles away.
"He's causing great havoc among the country stores out in our county, and we feel that he's very dangerous, and we feel that if we don't catch him, someone's going to get hurt," Capt. Jerry Best with the Wayne County Sheriff's Office.
In both cases, the suspect immediately assaulted the victims by jabbing them in the face with his shotgun. The clerk who was hurt at one of the stores required 13 stitches around his eye.
The store owners are taking action by putting up new security measures that they hope will prevent future trouble.
A reward of $1,000 is available for information that leads lawmen to the suspect. Anyone with information should call the Wayne County Sheriff's Office at919-735-5555or CrimeStoppers.
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