Store Robberies Were Easily Solved; Apprehending Scott – Not So Easy
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Kendrick Scott has been convicted two times for robbing the same convenience store, once in 2017 and again in 2020. This picture is from a manhunt following the 2017 robbery. He was captured on Blackmur Drive in Water Valley after officers spotted him in the vicinity and surrounded the area.
WATER VALLEY – The 2017 and 2020 robberies of the Exxon station on Frostland Drive have striking similarities. The robberies occurred in June. The man convicted in the robberies, Kendrick Scott, made a hasty getaway both times. The trail of evidence allowed authorities to identify Scott as the perpetrator within hours. And both times, Scott was difficult to apprehend.
Rewinding back to June 19, 2017, Scott entered the store and demanded cash, telling the clerk he had a gun. He fled with the cash but left a valuable piece of evidence behind on the counter – his wallet containing his birth certificate and voter ID card.
Scott managed to narrowly evade officers for almost three weeks. His first encounter was a week after the robbery when a Water Valley police officer responded to a shoplifting call at Dollar General. When the officer arrived, she observed Scott already outside the store with an armload of store merchandise. Scott dropped his load and took off.
Fast footwork was cited as he managed to elude officers a second time. Scott was finally apprehended on July 5, 2017, after he was spotted on Wood Street and a barrage of city and county officers cordoned off the area.
Scott was convicted of strong arm robbery in 2018 and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Second Robbery
On June 2, 2020, Scott was out of prison on earned supervised release when he was accused of robbing the store again.
“I believe the robbery was spur-of-the-moment. It wasn’t planned,” Water Valley Police Chief Jason Mangrum reported about last year’s robbery. Scott jumped over the counter, pushed the clerk aside and grabbed $604 from the cash register.
An acquaintance Scott was riding with was still inside the store’s restroom and came out to discover Scott had fled in his vehicle. Again officers obtained ample evidence in the hours following the early morning robbery. This time it would take a week before Scott was apprehended. A probation officer with the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) arrested him without incident at a relative’s house in Charleston.
It would be later, months later, before authorities revealed Scott was also their prime suspect in a double murder committed just two weeks before the 2020 store robbery. (See related story, page 1).
