ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 19, 1997 TAG: 9704210067
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JON CAWLEY THE ROANOKE TIMES
A man threatened to blow the store up, but officials say a device found in car they pulled over two hours later was a fake.
A man who attempted to rob a Roanoke County Kroger Friday afternoon was foiled when a manager ran out the back door and called police. The man threatened to shoot the manager and blow up the grocery store.
The man walked into the Kroger at 7223 Williamson Road, the corner of Peters Creek Road, about 2:43 p.m. and asked to see a manager. Eddie Antoine, a Kroger manager, approached the man and was told that the man and his wife shop at the store all the time and wanted to make a complaint. Antoine and the man walked to the meat aisle where the man then leaned over and told Antoine "there's a gun on you and if you try to run I'll kill you and blow the store up," Roanoke County police Lt. T.W. Haynes said.
The man indicated to Antoine that he had a gun and a bomb and lifted his shirt for the manager to see. Haynes said Antoine did not look and saw neither a gun nor a bomb.
Antoine walked with the man to stall him before he bolted out a back door and yelled for an employee in the meat department to call 911. Antoine ran to the front of the Kroger where he called police from a pay phone, Haynes said.
"He [Antoine] did a heckuva job," Haynes said.
The first police officer arrived at the store within a minute but the robber and a getaway driver were already gone, Haynes said. Employees had already evacuated customers from the store when police arrived.
Officers received detailed descriptions of the two men, from about eight people in the parking lot, and notified area police departments to look for a pale blue sedan with Tennessee plates, Haynes said.
About 4:40 p.m., Virginia State Police Sgt. J.L. Davis was parked in the median just south of Exit 67 on Interstate 81 southbound in Wythe County when he saw a blue Buick pass by with two men inside. Davis called for backup and with other units followed the car, he said.
The two men observed the troopers behind them and signaled to pull into the rest area just south of Exit 54. The two men gave themselves up in the rest area without resistance, Davis said.
The state police bomb squad was called to the rest area and investigator D.R. Lambert determined that a device found in the men's car was a fake. No gun was found, Davis said.
Donnie Alfred Davis, 50, and Leo Arthur Davis, 53, both of Dandridge Tenn., were each charged with the manufacture and possession of an explosive hoax device, Davis said.
The Davis brothers were taken to the Smyth County jail where they were being held early today on $20,000 bond each - $10,000 for each charge for each man, Davis said.
They have not been charged with the attempted robbery of the Kroger store.
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