Two Brookhaven men and a former California who recently movedhere were in Lincoln County Jail Thursday morning on charges ofarmed robbery after an attempted strike at the City Mart on NorthJackson Street, authorities said.

Brookhaven Police Chief Pap Henderson said Lawerance A. Wilson,17, and David M. Walker, 19, both of Brookhaven, and Daniel K.Brown, 22, of Oakland, Calif., entered the City Mart Wednesdaybefore 7 p.m. While inside the store, Henderson said, the men useda handgun to obtain a small amount of cash, more than 25 packs ofNewport cigarettes and several soft drinks.

The trio was observed entering the City Mart by BPD Capt. BobbyBell, who noticed one of them come back out of the store actingsuspicious.

The man went toward the vehicle the suspects had arrived in andwhen he saw the police, jumped in the car and drove away. Anotherof the suspects fled on foot, Henderson said.

Police pursued both of the fleeing suspects and apprehended thema short time later.

A third man remained in the store, Henderson said, and was ableto hide in a store room for a brief time.

“There were some gloves and a backpack in the store that let usknow he was still there, so we had to secure and search the areapiece by piece,” he said. “He was concealed so well, it was reallygood police work on our guys’ part to determine he was there andfind him.”

Henderson said the suspect who escaped on foot was carrying thecash, and dropped or threw away a handgun that was recovered bypolice in pursuit.

“I’m really proud of these guys,” he said. “I’d like to see allour crimes solved in that length of time. This is the kind of workI like to see done, and we need to let people know we’re not goingto tolerate this kind of thing in our community.”