Police say violent business robbers moved to Charlotte to ‘victimize people’

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - Two men have been arrested in Charlotte and charged in multiple armed robberies from businesses in Charlotte.

Charlotte Mecklenburg Police say Quanterious Whatley and Tyrek Hendrix have been charged with seven armed robberies dating back to mid- January of this year.

They are accused of robbing two Family Dollars, two Subways, a Payless Shoe Store, a Metro PCS store, and a GameStop.

“2 o’clock. Broad daylight,” said Mario Reyes, the manager of GameStop. “My associate gave him all the money which was $770.”

In each of the cases, the two would use a gun and rob the employees and their store of money.

“I mean I feel better because this is my store and I don’t anyone to feel scared about coming to work,” said Reyes about the arrests.

The CMPD’s Armed Robbery Unit collaborated with CMPD division detectives to gather video evidence which helped them identify a suspect car.

“They literally just moved here,” said CMPD Sergeant Brain Scharf. “They wanted to come to Charlotte to victimize people. We stopped that.”

At first, police say the duo drove the U-Haul they moved to Charlotte with as their vehicle to commit the crimes.

“It is certainly different. They moved here in it,” said Scharf. “I know it sounds crazy but you would be surprised how many U-Haul trucks are out there when you are looking for one.”

“We didn’t see the U-Haul at all. They had actually been kind of smart and parked it on the side of the store,” said Reyes.

The two then switched to a gray car which was later identified by police.

On Thursday, officers were able to locate that gray vehicle and tracked it to an apartment complex. Whatley and Hendrix were both arrested.

Police say the two suspects may be connected to at least three additional robberies from businesses. Those investigations remain open.

Copyright 2019 WBTV. All rights reserved.