Two Vicksburg men charged with robbing a convenience store during the weekend were ordered Monday to be held on $75,000 bond each to await action of the grand jury in January.

Alonzo Blackmore, 203 Smith Place, and Chadrick Dewayne James, 1937 Heather Drive, both 21, were arrested early Saturday morning after a gunman held up the Jubilee Exxon at 1215 Mission 66. The incident was reported to police at 3:51 a.m. Saturday.

The two men were arrested a short while after the robbery. One was taken into custody at the Hayes Street Apartments, and the other was arrested on Mission 66 near Military Avenue.

Blackmore and James made their initial appearance in Vicksburg Municipal Court Monday afternoon. Judge Allen Derivaux set bond on each man at $75,000. Both remained in the Warren County Jail this morning.

Capt. Mark Culbertson, commander of the detective bureau at the Vicksburg Police Department, said officers are continuing the investigation of the Jubilee Exxon robbery and of Blackmore and James in the hope of linking them to some of the eight other armed robberies reported in Vicksburg in September, October and November.

“There are some similar (methods of operation) that match at least four of the other robberies,” Culbertson said.

He said all of the robberies under investigation happened between midnight and about 5 in the morning and all involved restaurants, convenience stores and motels.

Officers have evidence recovered at some of the robberies they need to compare with the one Saturday and with the two suspects.

“We have some forensic evidence, latent fingerprints and video tapes we still need to look at,” he said.

He said police were able to make the arrests quickly because he had both detectives and uniformed officers out Saturday morning staking out some other businesses in the hope the robbers would hit again. One group of the officers was watching the Fast Lane on Indiana Avenue when the Jubilee Exxon robbery happened and were able to respond in force quickly, he said.

Culbertson said when the arrests were made, officers were able to recover the money taken from the Jubilee Exxon. They also recovered what he described as a fake handgun from one of the men.

“Ideally, we would like to see zero armed robberies,” Culbertson said, pointing out that 36 have been reported in Vicksburg this year.

Although eight have been reported in the last three months, the number is down from earlier this year. In May and June, police reported six robberies in each month. That was preceded by three in January and two each in February, March and April. Three robberies were reported in both July and August.