Police arrest 1 of 3 suspects in robbery, beating of clerk at Lincolnton cellphone store

LINCOLNTON, N.C. — A brutal beating and robbery was caught on a store surveillance camera Saturday at a Sea Wireless in Lincolnton.

The clerk of a Sea Wireless was pistol-whipped and the store was robbed Saturday by three men.

"They put the pistol butt on his head,” store owner Sam Kuhn said. “I don't worry about what they do to the business, but the way they beat him that is too much."

The first of three suspects comes into the store asking about a cellphone.

Channel 9 has learned this suspect is actually a customer of the business and he had called the owner earlier to make sure he wasn't at the store.

He then signals two other masked men who drove to the business with him. They come into the store quickly and repeatedly beat the clerk.

Officials told Channel 9 the suspects stole five cellphones, along with cash from the Sea Wireless.

Police say the man who initially came into the store, Mark McDowell, has been arrested and they are working to identify the other two suspects.

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