UPDATE: Thieves hit Dollar General clerk in head during robbery; Flash Market robbed an hour later

Blytheville police are investigating two robberies about an hour apart on Sunday night.

Dollar General, located on South Division, and Flash Market on East Main were both robbed at gunpoint by multiple suspects, according to Capt. Scott Adams, the Blytheville Police Department Criminal Investigations Division Commander.

Adams noted around 8 p.m. Sunday, two armed black males with their faces covered robbed Dollar General. Then, around 9 p.m., three armed masked males robbed Flash Market, he said.

The Dollar General clerk told police the thieves demanded that she open the safe, but she could not access it. "One of the suspects struck her in the head with the handgun," the police report said. "The clerk stated the suspect then shoved her to the ground."

The men exited the store with $300 cash.

At Flash Market, the cashier told police that thieves took money from the cash register.

"The cashier stated as she was checking a customer the subjects entered the store," the report said. "When they entered two of them immediately produced firearms and pointed them at her. The third subject remained at the door."

The first offender reported told her to drop all the money, and she raised her hands and stepped away from the man. The first and second offenders then took all of the money from the register she was working from. "The offender then pointed the gun at her and demanded she open the safe and the other register. The cashier told him she could not open either one of them at which time the offender told her if she did not open the safe he would shoot her. At this time the offender standing at the door yelled at the other two to 'be out.'"

The three offenders fled the store with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Blytheville Police Department at 763-4411.