A strong armed robbery occurred at the Dry River Convenience Store in Dayton around 5 a.m. Monday morning.

It's located between Route 33 and Clover Hill Road.

Police are looking for two suspects.

It is called a strong armed robbery because physical force was used.

Store owner Jae Kim tells WHSV that he got an phone call from his clerk at the store around 5:20 this morning.

Kim says the clerk told him that two men beat him and took roughly $1,000 from him.

One of the two men was wearing a ski mask.

The clerk was taken to Rockingham Memorial Hospital with lacerations and bruises to his face.

According to Rockingham County Sheriff Bryan Hutcheson, the two suspects did not have a weapon.

The money that was taken is used to set the cash register at the start of the day.

After they took the money, the two men ran away from the store.

Hutcheson says that the early morning timing of the robbery indicates that the suspects might be familiar with the store operations.

"You would certainly think, based on what we know at this time, that the suspects were familiar with the routine there - the time that the store opened, the manner in which the manager came to open it," Hutcheson said.

Hutcheson says they are investigating whether there is any connection between the robbery in Dayton and two that occurred over the weekend in Harrisonburg, but so far nothing links the crimes.

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