At least 2 arrested after robbery attempt, standoff at Dillon Cookout restaurant, police report says

DILLON, S.C. (WBTW) — At least two people were arrested early Thursday morning after an apparent armed robbery attempt and standoff at the Cookout restaurant on Radford Boulevard in Dillon, according to a Dillon police report.

Michael Alphonsoe Carraway, 25, and Brandon Demario Robinson Jr., 18, both of Florence, are facing charges in the incident, the police report said. Their charges are unclear, but the report lists robbery and kidnapping as offenses.

It happened at about 2:25 a.m., and when officers arrived they saw a Cookout employee behind the nearby Popeye’s restaurant who told them that there were suspects with a gun inside the Cookout, the report said.

Police immediately set up a perimeter around the building in the parking lot and covered the front and back entrances and the drive-thru window, the report said.

A short time later, the report said a man with a silver gun came out the back door but went back inside after an officer shouted at him to get on the ground, the report said. About a minute later, the store manager came out of the restaurant and told officers that there was another person still inside.

The manager also told police that two men had entered the back door of the restaurant, pointed a gun at him, cocked it, and told him to open the safe, the report said. The manager said he told the men he could not open the safe and that he did not think they were able to get any money.

After the officers called for backup from the Dillon County Sheriff’s Office, the report said one of the suspects ran out of the front door of the restaurant and across the parking lot toward Huddle House and the Red Roof Inn. Deputies eventually caught him at the Royal Regency Inn.

As that was unfolding, the report said a woman walked up in the parking lot from Radford Boulevard and tried to distract officers attention from the man who was still inside the restaurant. She was asked to leave but refused and eventually told officers that her brother and boyfriend were the ones inside the restaurant.

She asked officers to put down their guns and not to shoot anyone before she was placed into a patrol car for safety reasons, the report said.

As time passed, additional city and county law enforcement units as well as the Latta police joined in the effort to get the man to surrender, the report said. Officers could see him moving inside the restaurant but he continued to refuse to come out.

Dillon Police Chief David Lane and a police captain used their in-car PA system to persuade the man to come out of the restaurant, the report said. He did not respond right away but eventually walked out the front door at 4:33 a.m. without any additional incident.