Bessemer man robbed as part of gang initiation

Bessemer, Al.
A man in Bessemer was robbed Thursday morning by two young men wearing bandanas who told him it was part of their gang initiation. Police departments across the Greater Birmingham area are now on the lookout for the two suspects who allegedly robbed Anthony Eason, a 61-year-old Bessemer resident.
Eason said he was waiting for the bus at the bus stop on 9th Avenue and 24th Street in Bessemer when a white car pulled up. Two young men got out of the car and approached Eason.

Anthony Eason

"They ran up to me, blue and gray bandanas on their head and said, 'Give it up, Old Man.' And the old man gave it up.  I'm not hard headed," Eason said. The robbers then informed Eason they had two more people to rob that day to make their quote for an initiation into a gang.
Eason said at first he though the men were going to kill him.
"I kept thinking, 'Lord, have mercy.'  And that's what He did. God had mercy on me because he has a work for me to do. I gotta lead somebody to Christ and I wish it could be them," he said.
Eason had a message for the young men who robbed him earlier in the day: "You're not tough.  You're not bad.  And it's always somebody as tough as you, shoots a little quicker, faster, straighter.   Get in the church and get in the Word of God," he said.
The suspects are described as two men in their late teens or early 20s, wearing blue plaid shirts with bandanas, driving a white 5.0 Mustang.