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ALBEMARLE, NC — Surveillance pictures are credited with leading police to 45-year-old Ryan Efird. Investigators believe Efird shot and killed 81-year-old Eldridge Roger Gibson during a robbery at B&G Coin on October 31st.
They say he took off in Gibson’s truck.
“People was in fear, something like that happening just so close. A real tragedy,” says Albemarle resident Richard Huneycutt. Huneycutt, a friend and nearby business owner, says people in the neighborhood off West Main Street are relieved.
“I’m sure the community feels a lot safer,” he says.
Police say they had been tracking Efird for about two weeks until they caught up with him, right outside Albemarle, along St. Martin Road. Police Chief William Halliburton says surveillance pictures enhanced by the State Bureau of Investigations played a big role.
“Gave us even more people saying ‘that’s who we think it is,’ and that really is what broke this case,” he says. Investigators also executed search warrants at Efird’s home and his fiance’s apartment. We knocked on her door… but the woman who answered said she wasn’t home. Efrid has a criminal record including several breaking & enterings. He got out of jail earlier this year.
According to warrants… associates told police Efrid made the plan to rob the coin shop and kill its owner years ago.
