The Jackson County Sheriff's Department continues its investigation in to what detectives described as an unusually violent robbery at a 24-hour restaurant in White City Thursday night.

No one was injured in the robbery reported at about 11:30 p.m. at the Apple Peddler Restaurant at 7405 Highway 62 in White City, sheriff's Detective Sgt. Colin Fagan said.

A white man who wore a green nylon windbreaker with a hood pulled tight over his head, partly obscuring his face, came in to the restaurant carrying a pump-style shotgun, Fagan said.

"This level of violence, where he actually displayed a shotgun, is unusual," he said, noting that the type of shotgun was also rarely seen.

The robber ordered a cook and waitress onto the floor behind the counter, banged the gun against the counter and demanded money from the cash register. Two customers were playing video lottery machines in another part of the restaurant and one of them heard the commotion, slipped out a back door and ran to a neighboring business to call 9-1-1, Fagan said.

The robber left with an undisclosed amount of cash. Investigators suspect that a get-away driver or other person also might be involved in the robbery, Fagan said.

Detectives are continuing to interview witnesses and collecting surveillance video from neighboring businesses. They also are looking for similar cases elsewhere, especially along the Interstate 5 corridor.

Investigators ask anyone who might have seen a suspicious vehicle in the area of highways 62 and 140 or have other information related to the case to call the sheriff's department tip line at 774-8333.

— Anita Burke