A masked man with a gun robbed the Quick Buys convenience store on Georgia 97 South late Sunday night, according to Bainbridge Public Safety.

The robbery happened at about 11:50 p.m. Sunday, as two employees of the store were cleaning up and preparing to close for the night. The employees stated a tall, slender black male with a do-rag wrapped around his face entered the store, pointed a gun at them and ordered them to get on the ground. Both the safe and cash register were open at the time, and the robber took a large sum of money from inside them. The robber then fled, dropping a few bills and coins on the ground. He took several seconds to pick up some of the dropped money then ran behind the store.

BPS officers responded to the store and reviewed video from the store’s surveillance camera, in addition to speaking with the employees. Sheriff’s deputies also helped search for a possible suspect in the surrounding area. A team of search dogs from the Apalachee Correctional Institute in Sneads, Fla., arrived at about 12:30 p.m. One of the dogs led officers behind the store, where money and a do-rag were found. On the other side of the Georgia 97 connector, in the woods, several crates were found and it appeared someone had been there recently. However, no other tracks could be found.

BPS officers canvassed the surrounding area, including the Earle Boat Basin and nature trails. However, no suspects could immediately be located.

The Quick Buys on Georgia 97 South was also robbed on July 9, 2009, in an unsolved incident.

Anyone who knows more information about who may have committed the robbery is asked to call BPS at 248-3038 or the Sheriff’s Office at 248-3044. Tips can be made anonymously. Anyone who sees suspicious activity around a store or place of business should call 911.

Previous robberies

Money from a reward fund set up by local businesses is still available for people who provide information that leads to the arrest and conviction of robbery suspects.

On March 2, a man with a knife, also wearing all black, robbed the Kanagroo convenience store on U.S. 27 North.

On Jan. 16, a masked man wielding a sawed-off shotgun robbed the Kangaroo convenience store on U.S. 84 East. Three young men, all white, have been charged in connection with that robbery. One of them, 20-year-old Marty Barber of Thomasville, has also been linked by blood DNA to a string of burglaries in Grady, Decatur and Thomas counties, WALB reported Monday on its Web site. Barber is currently in jail.

There were 13 robberies of businesses in Decatur County in 2009, not including one attempted armed robbery. One was solved, suspects have been charged in three other incidents and eight are unsolved.

BPS and the Sheriff’s Office are also continuing to look into who might have been responsible for two earlier robberies: July 20, 2001 at The Winery on Louise Street, and the Oct. 15, 2008 robbery of the Inland Food Mart on West Shotwell Street. Robbers shot and killed store employees in both of those incidents.