GBI arrests suspected serial armed robber targeting northwest Georgia stores

ROME, Georgia (WDEF) – The GBI reports the arrest of an armed robbery suspect who they believe has held up stores all across northwest Georgia.

They brought out the Floyd’Rome SWAT team to make the arrest last Wednesday.

The suspect is 27 year old Anthony Lavell Williams of Rome.

The GBI and FBI along with local agencies have been investigating a spree of armed robberies since last December.

They believe Williams targeted Family Dollar, CVS and Walgreens locations in the region.

They say he held up stores in Fort Oglethorpe, Summerville, Rome and Carrolton.

The robbery that cracked the case was the holdup of a Carrolton Walgreen’s on the July 4th weekend.

Police say the suspect held a gun on six customers and a clerk.

He made her open the safe and then took all of the Scheduled narcotics from the store.

Detectives used surveillance video from nearby stores to identify the suspect’s vehicle, then used their Flock camera system around the town to match the vehicle with a license plate.

That led them to Williams home in Rome.

The search of the home found evidence connecting him to 20 more robberies in northwest Georgia, including the one in Fort Oglethorpe.