BEDFORD, Va. – One person is in custody after an armed robbery on Friday afternoon in a Bedford shopping center, according to police.
At 12:46 p.m., officers responded to Twin Smokes, a tobacco shop on Lynchburg Salem Turnpike near the Walmart, for a reported armed robbery.
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An armed man entered the business, demanded money, left with an undisclosed amount of cash and then drove away, according to police.
A Bedford officer saw a vehicle matching the suspect’s car and when another officer arrived, the driver of the suspect vehicle accelerated and the two officers pursued him before the chase ended less than a mile away at the CVS on Main Street, when the driver was taken into custody, according to police.
Authorities later learned that the vehicle was stolen in an armed carjacking in Henrico County.
Police identified the man as 47-year-old Robert Gordon Wiggins, of Sandston.
Wiggins was arrested on the following charges:
- Robbery
- Use of a firearm while committing robbery
- Felony elude
- Fail to stop at the scene of an accident
- Possession of stolen property
- Larceny - 2nd offense
The investigation into Friday’s armed robbery continues and anyone with information about the crime is asked to call 540-587-6011 or call 911.