A man walked into a Statesboro convenience store wearing a bright red Elmo hat, robbed the clerk at gunpoint of more than $3,000, then asked for a $4 pack of cigarettes, police said.
    It happened after 10 p.m. Wednesday at  Zip-N-Go Foods on Chandler Road. The black male -- wearing blue jeans, a blue shirt and white shoes – also had a red bandana around his face.
    The clerk told police the suspect had a “small tattoo on his forehead that appeared to be a crown,” Statesboro Police Public Safety Director Wendell Turner said. “The suspect was of average height and weight.”
    Statesboro police and Georgia Southern University police officers responded to the scene around 10:22 p.m.
    The suspect took $3,548 and a pack of Newport 100 cigarettes and fled the store on foot, reports state.
    Turner said a witness saw the suspect run into the complex of Southern Villas apartments, but then lost sight of him. Officers searched the area but were unable to locate the suspect.
    Anyone with information about the robbery or the identity of the suspect is asked to contact Detective Keith Holloway with the Statesboro Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division. Holloway may be reached at (912) 764-1542.
   
    Holli Deal Bragg may be reached at (912) 489-9414.