CHARLOTTE — A couple is accused of robbing five different smoke shops in Charlotte at gunpoint. Investigators said the duo got away with nearly $2,000 in total.
When police caught up with the suspects, they said they did it for rent money.
Channel 9 obtained surveillance video from one of the robberies that occurred at a tobacco and vape shop in South End last week.
It captured one of the suspects wearing a hoodie, sunglasses, gloves, and a white mask.
In the video, an employee at the shop asked the suspect to take the mask off. It is then that the suspect moves around the counter, causing the employee to hop over and run out of the door. The suspect then takes cash from the register.
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“That makes you scared and feel insecure, you know what I mean?” said smoke shop employee Mohammed Mohammed. “It makes you think about what today is the last day I’m going to live because someone is going to come over here and rob you?”
The following day, police said they were able to track down the getaway vehicle used in the robberies after it passed through a license plate reader. This led them to an apartment complex off South Tryon Street, where they arrested Ethan Mori and Sophie Gilliland.
Mohammed said he was grateful for the arrests, saying, “I feel safe now and think everything will go back to normal.”
Detectives said they both confessed to robbing five smoke shops around the south Charlotte area.
They said the incidents took place over the span of two weeks, with Mori robbing the business at gunpoint and Gilliland acting as the getaway driver.
Both suspects are still in jail as of Tuesday night.
VIDEO: 2 robberies in less than a week at SouthPark Nordstrom
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