NEWSOMS—For the second time this month, the Southampton County Sheriff’s Office is investigating an attempted robbery at a Newsoms bank.

At about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, a person dressed in all black and wearing a ski mask tried to gain entry into the BB&T branch at 22334 General Thomas Highway, according to Sgt. Wanda Stivers. The would-be robber, who carried a black bag and displayed an undetermined weapon, was denied entry to the bank and was seen running down Main Street toward the railroad tracks.

Witnesses then spotted the person getting into a dirty blue sedan with no tags, which was seen heading south on Main Street. Law enforcement agencies in surrounding jurisdictions were notified and a person of interest was being questioned Tuesday night at the Murfreesboro, N.C., Police Department.

MPD Chief Darrell Rowe told the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald that at 6 p.m. his officers arrested a male subject who fled after an attempted traffic stop of a vehicle suspected of being involved in the Newsoms case.

The same bank was the scene of another attempted bank robbery on Dec. 2. In that case, 32-year-old Richard Eugene Boyce III of Chesapeake was denied entry into the bank and led authorities on a high-speed chase before he eventually pulled over and was arrested on Route 58, near the Route 258 interchange.

Stivers said the sheriff’s office is stepping up patrols in the Newsoms area.

“It’s kind of bizarre that they hit the same bank again,” she said.