On Wednesday October 16th at approximately 2:04PM Marion Police officers responded to a report of an Armed Robbery on East Court Street. Officers arrived at Alivas Multiservices located at 204 East Court where they were met by the owner of the business. The owner explained to officers that four Hispanic males entered his business and attempted to have counterfeit checks cashed. One of the checks was cashed in excess of $800.00.
The owner Ismael Vasquez called the company listed on the check to verify the validity of the check only to find out it was counterfeit. At that time the owner confronted the four men about this fact, and they ran from the business. Vasquez (owner) then retrieved a .357 handgun from the store and began pursuing the suspects out of the store. Once outside Vasquez stated that he fired 6 rounds from the handgun into the air in attempt to stop the suspects.
The suspects continued to flee the area on foot. Vazquez returned to the store and called the police. Two of the suspects were located a short time later hiding in a wooded area not far from the scene. Those suspects are being interviewed at this time by Marion Police Investigators. The other two suspects have not yet been located at the time of this release.
For safety and precautionary reasons, a temporary lockdown was placed on several locations in the area while officers searched for the suspects.
Simultaneously officers on the scene were interviewing Vasquez and learned that he never observed a weapon from any of the suspects, nor was there a threat of a weapon. It was determined at that time that the businesses could resume normal operation.
Several agencies including McDowell County Sheriff’s Office, and North Carolina Wildlife, and McDowell Emergency Management responded to the scene to assist with the incident. At this time no other information is available.
