The Carrollton Police DepartmentÂ’s strategically placed flock camera system within the city plays a huge role in leading to the arrest of a 26-year old Rome resident investigators believe used a gun in robbing the Walgreens located at 794 South Park Street earlier this month.
Local investigators believe their suspect was also involved in over 20 other armed robberies around the state.
According to the initial robbery report filed by Officer Richard Brice: On Sunday, July the sixth at approximately 10:50pm a female employee was on her way out of the store. As the door opened, a black male wearing a black face mask stepped out from the left side of the building and met her in the doorway. He then ordered her back inside the store. She described that he was holding what she believed to be a silver and black semi-automatic handgun.
The male suspect then gathered the six people said to be in the store and took their cellphones. He then forced all in the store towards the manager’s office. Inside the office, witnesses say the suspect made the manager open the safe and the suspect took money from inside. He then instructed employees to take him into the pharmacy section, where he collected “only the scheduled narcotics.”
The suspect then moved everyone out of the pharmacy and had them lay face down on their stomachs, separated from each other as he left the store.
During the investigation, ACE Unit Investigators Kyle Jones and Chad Taylor reviewed flock surveillance footage and video surveillance provided by area businesses to get a lead on their suspect.
The investigators searched video and reviewed over 3,000 automobiles in uncovering their suspect.
“Kyle did an awesome job,” Taylor told WLBB Radio Thursday. “He spent hours going through those videos. He stuck with those videos— comparing times and vehicles— until he determined this was our suspect’s car.”
The vehicle plates provided information on the vehicle owner.
Authorities this week presented a search warrant at the residence of Anthony Lavell Williams at 309 B Ross Street in Rome. There, investigators say they found multiple pieces of evidence linking Williams to multiple armed robberies throughout the state. Taylor says the majority of those robberies were at pharmacies, although he is not certain at this time if Williams was involved in the armed robbery of CVS Pharmacy in Villa Rica in middle June.
Bond was denied for Williams on Thursday. He is currently in the Carroll County Jail.
