He shot a clerk in botched robbery then held up Waffle House, Quick Serve store

An armed robber, who wounded a south Macon store clerk and held up a north Macon restaurant before dawn, was counting his loot before robbing a third business in a fourth of July crime spree.

Through surveillance images, Bibb County sheriff's deputies confirmed the same gunman traveled to all three locations with a woman in a 2006 blue Honda Civic with tinted windows and no front hubcaps.

They hit the Citgo at 1681 Rocky Creek Road at about 2:50 a.m. and the Waffle House at 3620 Riverside Drive about an hour later before arriving at the Exxon Quick Serve at 2311 Pio Nono Ave. at about 6:30 a.m.

The duo entered the last convenience store separately with the man counting money as he walked in the building at the corner of Dent Street, about a block from Anthony Road, Bibb County sheriff's Lt. Sean DeFoe said.

They went to the video game room where the man was still adding up the cash, DeFoe said.

"The two suspects spent quite a bit of time in the game room ... talking and acting like they were just playing the games," DeFoe said.

The woman went to the clerk, who was behind the enclosed counter, and told him the video games were not functioning properly.

When the store employee was coming out of the enclosure to see about the machines, the gunman with a goatee put his foot in the door, pulled out his weapon and ordered the clerk into the game room, according to a Bibb County sheriff's news release.

The robber, who was wearing a blue skull cap, took an undisclosed amount of cash from the register and ran out toward Dent Street.

The woman stayed behind about five minutes before driving off in the Honda with license plate number PWJ2007.

The gunman was alone inside the Citgo where he botched the first robbery and wounded the cashier at the store across from the post office on Rocky Creek, according to a Bibb County sheriff's news release.

The gunman, who was wearing a blue bandana on his face that time, had the weapon in hand as he walked through the door, causing clerk Bhavesh Patel, 24, to run toward the back storeroom, the release stated.

The gunman, described as being about 6 feet tall and weighing about 250 pounds, fired through a window on the closed door of the enclosure separating the counter area from the store.

The bullet grazed the clerk's back, and the gunman ran out of the store and got into the blue Civic.

At that location, he was wearing what was initially described as a black do-rag, a white V-neck shirt, dark blue jeans and gray Jordan shoes.

Patel declined medical treatment from paramedics at the scene but later went to the hospital where he was in stable condition.

Just before 3:50 a.m., investigators think that same gunman jumped the counter at the Waffle House near the Arkwright Road interchange of Interstate 75.

The man wearing the blue bandana had a gun as he demanded cash from the register.

At the all-night eatery near Holiday Drive North, about 10 miles away from the Citgo, the gunman got an undisclosed amount of money before running out and leaving in the same blue Honda Civic missing the two front hubcaps.

At about 7:30 a.m., Bibb County sheriff's deputies were called to the Pio Nono convenience store.

The accomplice and getaway driver is described as a black female about 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing about 200 pounds.

She was wearing a white and black cap with a gray and white brim and what could be a sports emblem on the front.

She had on a white Air Jordan design T-shirt and blue jean shorts.

Anyone with information about the suspects, the incidents or the Honda is urged to call an investigator at 478-751-7500 or phone anonymous tips to Macon Regional Crimestoppers at 877-68-CRIME.

"Patrol deputies are canvassing the area looking for the vehicle," DeFoe said.

This story was originally published July 4, 2018 at 4:57 AM.