LANDIS, N.C. -- Three men, one of them toting a shotgun, escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash on Jan. 8 after overpowering two armed guards who were trying to fill an ATM near a rural service station west of Landis, according to a report in the Charlotte Observer.
"It looks like they just caught them off guard," Rowan County Sheriff's Lt. Ronnie Terry told the Observer.
The FBI and the Rowan County Sheriff's Office are investigating the incident, Terry said. Investigators recovered surveillance film from the ATM but had not yet reviewed it.
About 45 minutes before sunrise, the two armed guards were preparing to fill an ATM owned by the State Employees Credit Union at N.C. 152 when three men wearing ski masks surprised them, Terry said. The men may have been hiding behind the small ATM building before they attacked the guards, Terry said.
They grabbed a money bag, tied the guards' hands with duct tape and drove off in the van. Authorities said the van may have contained thousands of dollars.
No shots were fired, and neither guard was injured.
The men drove to a nearby field where they poured a trail of flammable liquid for about 50 or 60 feet from the van, and lighted it. The van exploded, destroying fingerprints and other evidence inside. Volunteer firefighters extinguished the fire about 15 minutes after the heist began.
Some evidence was recovered later, Terry said, although he would not release specific details.
Authorities believe the robbers knew the van would be there, and that current or former employees of similar companies could be involved. "It had to be somebody familiar, or somebody that's done it with another company, somebody that's familiar with how these companies work," Terry said.
