Anderson, SC – Yesterday, a jury was out for less than half an hour in the case of the State vs. Phillip Walker for the armed robbery of the Family Dollar Store on E. River Street in Anderson in December of 2015. Walker was out of jail on bond and did not appear for trial. The sentence is sealed until Walker has been apprehended. If anyone knows the whereabouts of Mr. Phillip Walker, please contact the Anderson Police Department at 864-260-4444.
On December 16, 2015, Phillip Walker approached the register at the Family Dollar Store to purchase some items using his EBT card. Walker then asked for some cigarettes and after the clerk returned to the register with them, the defendant presented a handgun and told the clerk to give him the money from the register. The clerk complied and Walker exited the store. Once the defendant was outside, the clerk pressed the panic button and the Anderson Police Department responded within minutes. A description of the defendant was disseminated to law enforcement and a search began of the area. Thinking that something strange was going on, a witness who worked in a building close to the Family Dollar had made a photo on her phone of a man walking down the street taking off his jacket and hat and tossing them in the dumpster a short distance from the store. The defendant was arrested shortly thereafter. Walker confessed to the crime in a video interview with law enforcement. Walker had previous robbery convictions in North Carolina.
“Once Mr. Walker has been located and arrested, the sentence of the court will be unsealed,” stated Assistant Solicitor Catherine Huey. “We will all feel much safer once he has been apprehended.”
Phillip Wesley Walker