Five held in store robbery
07/09/03
By BRAD CROCKER
Mississippi Press Staff
PASCAGOULA – Alert citizens helped police here nab five people, including three Moss Point teen-agers and a homeless woman, involved in an armed robbery Monday of a 14th Street convenience store. The arrests could help police solve an earlier armed robbery at the same location in May. Police responded to a suspicious activity call at 10:43 p.m., after witnesses near the T&T Convenience Store saw several men running out of the store wearing bandanas over their faces. The store clerk, Hai O’Brien, called police shortly thereafter reporting that her store, located at 3219 14th St., had been robbed. O’Brien was injured in the robbery, but did not require medical attention, authorities said. The unidentified witnesses followed a brown van they saw the suspects get into and called police on their cell phone.
Police stopped the van near the intersection of Old Mobile Highway and Hospital Road. O’Brien identified the suspects at the scene and they were taken into custody. Arrested were Brandon Berry, 18, 4307 Briggs St., Moss Point; Joshua Liddell, 15, 4624 Jackson St., Moss Point; Shun Montgomery, 22, 4824 Gautier St., Moss Point; Robbie Thorne, 16, 4412 Briggs St., Moss Point; and April Wells, homeless. Wells’ 3-year-old daughter was in the van with the suspects. The child was taken to the Jackson County Youth Shelter and placed in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Human Services.
Police recovered money, cigarettes and candy that was allegedly stolen from the store. Several weapons also were seized, including a BB pistol and two Samurai swords. All five suspects are being held in the Pascagoula City Jail awaiting their bond hearings.
It’s possible, police said Monday, the suspects could have been involved in the May 31 armed robbery of T&T Convenience, using similar methods of operation as ones used Monday. “We are looking at all of them … as possible suspects in that robbery,” Lt. Chuck Fowler said. In that incident, O’Brien reported that three black males dressed in black-colored clothing and wearing bandanas over their faces robbed the store.
Weapons used in the May 31 robbery included a semi-automatic pistol and a martial arts-type sword and sticks chained together, commonly referred to as nun-chucks. The May 31 robbery suspects displayed their weapons, demanded money and left the store with an undisclosed amount of money.
Brad Crocker can be reached at 934-1431 or bcrocker@themississippipress.com.