Washington DC Rite-Aid robber shoots store manager www.privateofficer.com
Washington DC April 22 2012 The would-be robber told the store manager to hurry and gave him two minutes to open the cash register, according to court papers.
In a Rite Aid store in the District last week, according to a sworn statement, the gunman— armed with a black semiautomatic pistol — repeated his warning. Two minutes. Then he began counting. One, he said. Two. And that allegedly was all. Racking the slide, he readied his pistol and then shot the manager in the left side.
That chilling account was given Friday by a D.C. police officer seeking a warrant for the arrest of Ricky Vinston, 53, of the District in connection with the April 13 shooting at the store, in the 1400 block of Rhode Island Avenue NE.
According to the account, a man entered the store shortly before 12:30 p.m. and approached an employee about some candy. A store employee rang up what appeared to be red Mentos. Then the man leaned over the counter. Showing a pistol in an inside jacket pocket, he demanded money from the register.
Two employees fled. The store manager said he would open the register but realized that he would first have to void a previous transaction.
After firing the pistol, the would-be robber fled. He got no money but left with the candy. Store surveillance video was later posted online and released to the media, and based on statements from witnesses and other information, Vinston was arrested Friday in the 1400 block of Downing Street NE and charged with assault with intent to kill, authorities said.
According to police, the surveillance video showed the would-be robber walking “in an unusual way, always placing one foot directly in front of the other.”
In the sworn statement, an officer said that when Vinston was arrested, he noticed his gait. “He walked in the same unusual manner” as seen on the video.
Not all evidence led to Vinston. In the sworn statement, police said the shooting victim and another witness were shown a series of photographs that included Vinston’s. Neither picked him out. The victim leaned toward someone else.
The shooting victim remained paralyzed below the waist, the sworn statement said.
Source:Washington Post
