Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
A weekend attempted robbery of a southside Athens convenience store was thwarted by a gun-toting clerk, according to an Athens-Clarke County police report made public on Wednesday.
A masked man walked into Lay’s Food Mart on Macon Highway at about 2:15 p.m. Sunday, and just as he tossed a handwritten note on the counter demanding money, 44-year-old Waymon Fields pulled his gun on the suspect, who then ran from the store.
Fields, a former detention officer at the Oconee County Jail, said in an interview Wednesday he sensed the man was up to no good when he saw him approaching, wearing a full ski mask with eye holes and a hoodie.
“When he came in I said to him, ‘That’s not a good look to be walking into a store,’ ” Fields recounted.
“That’s when he throwed the note up on the counter, then put his hands down in the front of his pants, making like he had a gun,” Fields said. “I always have a pistol at work, so I took it out of my pocket and shoved it in his face,” Fields said.
Fields said he worked at the Oconee County Jail for eight years, and “a lot of ex-inmates come in and recognize me,” so it’s a good idea to have some protection.
Before turning tail, the suspect scooped up his note — which had read, “Give me all you money or else” — in what Fields believed was a move to not leave behind any evidence. The clerk said he grabbed the suspect, and after a very brief struggle the suspect pulled away and ran.
Two customers who were at the gas pumps at the time observed the masked man running from the store and, thinking it strange, got in their vehicle and chased the suspect as he ran on South Milledge Avenue and then on Moose Club Drive where he ran into some woods and out of the witnesses’ site, according to police.
Though the suspect had motioned as if going for a gun, Fields said he never saw a weapon but was not about to take any chances.
“If I saw a weapon I would’ve shot him,” the clerk said.
http://onlineathens.com/mobile/2016-01-21/athens-convenience-store-clerk-pulls-gun-would-be-robber