Downtown robbery attempt foiled

Dave Thompson / Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: January 11, 2008

When a man walked into the restroom at The Academy Café on Commerce Street a little before noon Friday, manager Joyce Jackson said it didn't register.

When that man walked back out holding a knife and demanding money for drugs, she thought the knife was a fake.

"Then I kind of like went to touch it to see if it was real," Jackson said, "and I said 'what are you doing- Don't do this, you know.'"

Police arrested Edward Lee Cox, 37, of Lynchburg, on robbery and abduction charges after a brief pursuit downtown.

Jackson said the robber held her at knifepoint, demanding the money from the register so he could buy drugs.

She first called the cook, Billy Roberts, from the kitchen.

"The guy said to Billy 'You don't open the register I'm going to cut her into little pieces,'" she said, "and I'm thinking 'No! I'm not good in little pieces.'"

But Roberts said he didn't know how to open the register.

About that time, Mark Wright, an off-duty café worker, arrived at the restaurant. He opened the register.

"I said 'this is gonna ruin your life. Don't do it.'

"And I gave him a hug and I said 'Look, I'll help you. I'll get you the help that you need. Don't ruin your life.'"

She said the robber then took the money and took her out of the store at knifepoint.

"We got away from the building a little bit and then he said 'I'm sorry,' you know, and he started running, and I'm running after him saying 'Stop. Give me the money back and just forget it,'" Jackson said.

She said she thought she got through to him when he turned around.

"He actually came back. He stopped running and came back toward me and started to hand me the money. And then he looked at me and he said 'I can't do it.' He said 'I need it. I'm sorry.'"

Then she said he ran.

Fortunately for Jackson, two men driving by saw the action. She said they drove down Commerce Street, cutting the man off.

By that time the police were on scene.

"To be that close to changing your life just for one high- You know, how much is a hundred bucks gonna buy you, you know-" Jackson said.

"Looking in his eyes, I know he didn't want to do it. He just, in his head, he didn't have a choice."

Susan Peverill, who owns the café, was working at the café's kiosk in front of the Genworth Financial building. She didn't know what was happening until she got a phone call from Wright, the off-duty worker.

Peverill said when she got there the building was crawling with police and Joyce was on her way to the police station.

"It was all under control, so I just went back up in front of Genworth and kept working at our little stand we have up there," Peverill said.

Lt. R.M. Zuidema, with the Lynchburg Police Department, said a robbery at that time of day is unusual, especially in such a heavily trafficked area.

"They can, unfortunately, happen anywhere in the city nowadays," he said.

"I would say it's unusual for it to happen in a highly populated area in broad daylight."

Jackson said she was thankful just to be alive after the incident.

"I guess I could be dead, you know," she said.

"I know, I know I had angels over me today."