UPDATED: Deputies seek public's help after store owner attacked, wife shot at Travelers Rest home

ORIGINAL STORY (09/25/2018):

GREENVILLE COUNTY, S.C. — Greenville County deputies are asking for the public's help in the search for five suspects who investigators say attacked the owner of a business, drove him to his Travelers Rest home at gunpoint, then shot his wife while ransacking the residence.

Deputies said they responded to a potential robbery at W.E. Willis Grocery 5, part of a Travelers Rest-based chain of convenience stores, on Highway 414 around 5 a.m. Tuesday after an employee who was coming to work found the store in disarray.

Sheriff's Office Lt. Ryan Flood said deputies went to the owner's home in the Green Valley community and found the man and his wife tied up. The wife had suffered at least one gunshot wound.

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Flood said the store owner was at the business between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Tuesday before the store opened. He was reportedly in the parking lot when he was met by five masked men who brutally attacked him before forcing him into his car and driving to his home.

According to reports, the wife was in critical condition and the husband was also hospitalized.

The suspects reportedly left the Green Valley home in the store owner's car, which has since been located. Flood said that various items were taken from both the store and the victims' home.

No suspect descriptions were given.

Investigators ask anyone in the Green Valley Community that has surveillance cameras to check their footage between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m. Tuesday.

If anyone has information regarding this vehicle, please call the Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Division at 864-467-5240 during normal business hours or Crime Stoppers of Greenville at 23-CRIME.

(Updated images 9/27 and 10/2.)

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