Aberdeen police yesterday combed the area near a Wawa store where two female employees were shot to death Monday and were hoping to enhance a surveillance video for clues to the killings, which rocked the tight-knit community where both workers were well-known.

"We're looking at it as an apparent robbery attempt," said Capt. Kenneth Cox, a spokesman for the Aberdeen Police Department, whose department was releasing few details yesterday. "But we're not convinced that was the motive yet." He refused to elaborate.

Wawa company officials are offering a $50,000 reward for help in arresting and convicting the gunman and an accomplice in the shootings, which took the lives of Melissa Pennington, 18, and Nancy Atkinson, 31, both of Aberdeen.

Yesterday, as the two families mourned in private, friends of Atkinson and Pennington gathered in the parking lot of the darkened store in the 200 block of N. Philadelphia Blvd., a few blocks from the Aberdeen police station.

Bunches of flowers rustled in the chill breeze near an exit door as mourners set up a makeshift memorial to the women, recalling them as caring, dedicated employees who were well-loved by the community.

Friends said Atkinson often worked long hours and spent much of her free time with her family. She was engaged, they said, and often talked excitedly about getting married.

Tammy Jennings, a friend of Atkinson's for 13 years, said she stopped by the store shortly after the shooting and was the one who broke the news to Atkinson's family. She remembered her friend as a woman who loved to laugh and often would stand near the mirror at Chasers, a local nightclub, and dance by herself.

"She didn't care who thought what about her," Jennings said. "She had a lot of spunk."

Carol Cole and Carla Williams sat in a car on Wawa's parking lot yesterday as they reminisced about the pair. Pennington, they said, enjoyed talking with the children who came into the store, and Atkinson could often be found dancing the night away.

"We met Nancy here at the store, and she was a good friend," Cole said. "She was very fun-loving and fun to be around. This whole thing is so shocking."

At Atkinson's home in Aberdeen, family members declined to talk yesterday, saying they were too distraught.

Most members of Pennington's family also declined to speak, except for Larry Styer, Pennington's stepfather, who said his daughter and Atkinson were close friends and often shopped together. "Nancy would bring Melissa home at night so her mother didn't have to," he said.

Styer said Pennington enjoyed her job as a "Wawa girl" and was recently named employee of the month. He described her as "an ordinary girl" who loved the Tazmanian devil character from Looney Tunes, and was working to get her driver's license and to buy a car.

At Aberdeen High School, which Pennington attended until February 1997 before leaving as a sophomore, counselors were available to talk with students.

Daniel Hanzelik, a social studies teacher, remembered Pennington as a quiet student. "She was a very, very nice girl," Hanzelik said. "I ran into her recently at the Wawa store, and we remembered each other. She was just very pleasant."

Yesterday, police continued their interviews of witnesses and were enhancing the surveillance tape to see if they could produce an image of the gunman who entered the store as the women were working shortly after 8: 10 p.m. Monday.

Police said the man, wearing dark clothing, pulled a handgun and shot the women several times. Investigators said the man then ran outside and met with a second man who was standing by a nearby phone, and the pair fled on foot.

Cox said that at the time of the shooting one customer was in the store and another employee was working in the back.

"There was some information that came through that the suspect outside was wearing a mask of some sort, but we have yet to confirm that," said Cox.

Anyone with information about the crime is asked to contact Detective Donald Licato with the Aberdeen Police Department at 410- 272-2121.

Pub Date: 3/03/99