Arrest made hours after Lancaster County store robbed by man with shotgun

The man police say robbed a Lancaster County convenience store was in custody before the end of the day.

Joshua Duane Smith, 35, was arrested at a home in Monroe, N.C., around 3:30 p.m. Friday, almost 12 hours after police allege he held up a small convenience store with a shotgun.

Smith, who goes by the nickname “Spanky,” is accused of robbing the Buford Express Mart at the intersection of Pageland Highway and Rocky River Road early Friday.

A man entered the store between 4:15 and 4:30 a.m. wielding what appears in a video to be a shotgun with a left-handed grip.

After pointing the weapon at the clerk and demanding money, the man fled with an undisclosed amount of cash and cigarettes.

The clerk was the only person in the store at the time and was uninjured.

Smith, who has listed addresses in Lancaster and Huntersville, N.C., was taken into custody without incident. He was reportedly still driving the 2004 four-door Toyota Tundra that was spotted on security cameras at the Express Mart – a vehicle law enforcement says was previously reported stolen in Union County, N.C.

Smith is being held in Union County on charges related to theft of the pick-up truck. He also faces armed robbery charges in Lancaster County.

Smith’s arrest was the climax of a day of publicity surrounding the robbery that led investigators to quickly identify and locate a suspect.

“Our investigators reached out to law enforcement agencies in nearby counties early this morning to identify the perpetrator of this violent crime,” said Lancaster County Sheriff Barry Faile. “We also received calls from citizens in response to information released throughout the day. Within hours Smith was identified and taken into custody.”

This story was originally published June 3, 2016 at 11:04 AM with the headline "Arrest made hours after Lancaster County store robbed by man with shotgun."