Man robbed by men he helped

By Deborah Buckhalter

Published: October 6, 2008

Thanks to an experience he had Sunday evening, a local man may see a grain of truth in the old saying “no good deed goes unpunished.”
Marianna resident Thomas Keith Buckley, 27, gave two men a lift to the grocery store that day and was held up at gunpoint for his trouble.
Two young black men approached Buckley near Peterson’s Store on Carter’s Mill Road around 6:45 p.m. and asked for a ride to the Grocery Outlet, according to Capt. Bill Bryant of the Marianna Police Department.
Buckley obliged, and the trouble began after he pulled off of Oates Street into the back parking lot of the grocery store.
At that point, Bryant said, one of the riders put a gun to Buckley’s head and demanded his wallet.
After one of them grabbed the billfold, which contained approximately $380, the two got out of the victim’s car and ran away toward Kelson Avenue.
Bryant said police believe the men involved in the hold-up may also be associated with a purse-snatching on Carter’s Mill Road one week earlier.
In that case, 46-year-old victim, Mary Ann Jones reported that a young black man pushed her down as she walked along Carter’s Mill Road on Sunday, Sept. 28. She rolled over and tried to get up run, Bryant said, but the assailant was holding onto her purse. Jones then released the purse, got up and ran. She said she saw a second young black man standing with the assailant when she looked back.
The tan purse contained about $2 in change, a portable CD player, Jones’ driver’s license and other items, police said.
Bryant said the descriptions of the suspects in the armed robbery appear to match those of the suspects in the purse-snatching.
Marianna police are warning the public to be especially careful in the wake of the armed robbery and purse snatching, as well as a rash of car burglaries in the area of Eighth Street.
With the Christmas shopping season drawing near, the incidence of theft is not likely to slow anytime soon, so police are urging people to take extra precautions.