A clerk at a Greenville County vape shop was injured after a woman armed with a knife robbed the store Friday night, cutting the employee's hand during a struggle before fleeing on foot. Deputies are still searching for the suspect.
The Greenville County Sheriff's Office is investigating the armed robbery, which happened at Smoking Joe's Vape Shop on Poinsett Highway, according to FOX Carolina. Deputies responded to the scene around 9:57 p.m. Friday, the outlet reports.
According to the station's report, a woman entered the store carrying a knife and demanded merchandise before she began removing items from the shelves herself. When the store clerk confronted her, the clerk sustained a laceration to the hand from the knife, per deputies, before the woman left the store on foot.
Clerk Treated at the Scene, Expected to Recover
The injured clerk received medical aid following the attack and is expected to recover, officials said, per the same account. Deputies have not released the extent of the merchandise the woman took from the shelves before leaving.
Investigators described the suspect as a woman between 25 and 40 years old, wearing a blue shirt and blue sweatpants at the time of the robbery, per deputies. Deputies said an active search is underway for the suspect, and anyone with information is asked to call 911.
Other Vape Shop Robberies in the Area
Friday's robbery is not the only knife-involved holdup reported at a Greenville-area vape shop in recent years. The Greenville County Sheriff's Office said an armed robbery occurred at Unlimited Tobacco in the 3000 block of Wade Hampton Boulevard on June 7, according to WYFF. Surveillance video in that case captured a suspect threatening an employee and stealing an undisclosed amount of merchandise before leaving the store on foot, the station reported, and authorities asked anyone with information to call GCSO at (864) 271-5210 or Crime Stoppers of Greenville at 23-CRIME.
In a separate case in neighboring Oconee County, deputies investigated an armed robbery at a vape shop on Sandifer Boulevard in which a man took out a knife, grabbed items and ran out of the store, FOX Carolina reported at the time. That suspect left in a 2013 Volvo with three Delta 8 disposables, gummies and pods, and deputies later identified him as 29-year-old Jean Marc Ralph Brierre, who was taken into custody that Monday evening and charged with armed robbery while armed with a deadly weapon, petit larceny, and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. He remained in jail on a $37,200 surety bond, according to the outlet's report.
Deputies continue to ask anyone with information about the woman's whereabouts to come forward as the search continues.
