A McComb convenience store owner was beaten with a pipe and robbed at gunpoint in front of his residence as he arrived home early Friday morning.
Pike County sheriff’s deputies responded to a call around 1 a.m. from the home of Gurhinder Mehroke on Highway 570 East in Summit.
Chief Investigator Bruce Fairburn said two men wearing masks ambushed Mehroke as he walked from his vehicle to the front door of his home.
“From what I understand, they were waiting for him to come home,” Fairburn said. “He didn’t make it to his door.”
One of the men approached Mehroke from behind and struck him on the back of the head with a metal pipe. The other man, brandishing a handgun, went into Mehroke’s vehicle and stole a bag containing about $1,500 in cash.
The two men fled the scene on foot. Fairburn said the victim reportedly saw them running east on the highway.
Mehroke, who owns S&M Food Mart on Summit Street, had closed up shop for the night and was taking home money from his cash register.
He was bleeding from his head when deputies arrived, but the business owner did not require hospitalization, Fairburn said.
The Burglund convenience store has been a target for criminals several times in the past.
“I understand this business owner has had multiple problems with customers at his store and has had to call the McComb Police for reports,” Fairburn said.
In November 2010, two masked men reportedly held up Mehroke at gunpoint and demanded cash from the register but fled before taking it.
Several other incidents were reported last year, including one on July 28 when police responded to a call after someone broke into the store through its roof, and another that occurred four months later when a man wielding a screwdriver robbed a customer inside the store.
“They’ve been hit a couple of times,” McComb police officer Michael Roberts said. “We’ll be doing some extra patrols in the area, and we’ll see what we come up with.”
