Liquor Store robber suspect captured
Liquor Store robber suspect captured
LAKE CITY, FL - After eight hours of what reads like a game of cat and mouse, a Lake City man was arrested and charged with armed robbery of a liquor store.
Donald Jared Gibson, 24, of 182 SW Susan Circle, was arrested at 5:00 am Friday, June 27
after he allegedly robbed a liquor store on County Road 242 at about 9:00 pm the night before.
The clerk at the store told deputies about 9:00 pm a man, armed with a handgun, entered the store and came behind the counter while the clerk was in the restroom. When the clerk returned from the restroom, the two struggled with the handgun and the suspect, later identified as Gibson, fired the gun once. At that point, the clerk stopped struggling and gave the robber an undisclosed amount of cash. The man left the store and ran behind a nearby hotel where he fled the area in a white, police-style vehicle.
About an hour later, Lake City Police Sgt. Keith Heston conducted a traffic stop on Montana Street of a car matching the suspect vehicle. Gibson ran from the car to a nearby neighborhood. Inside the car, police found the stolen money and an employee ID card identifying Gibson. A search of the area was unsuccessful.
About 2:30 am Sheriff’s Deputy Will Porter conducted a traffic stop at Highway 41 and Country Road 252 and the suspect was in that car. Gibson ran, but was apprehended a short time later after he was tracked by Baker Correctional Institute's K-9 to a wooded area behind a residence on County Road 131.
In addition to the armed robbery, Gibson is also charged with aggravated assault, discharging a firearm in public, displaying a firearm while committing an offense and fleeing and eluding law enforcement. Gibson was arrested and booked into the Columbia County Jail. He remained there Friday morning without bond.
"Anytime an armed robbery escalates to the point of a firearm being discharged, the potential for serious injury is tremendous," said Sheriff Bill Gootee. "Fortunately, it is not common we have a robbery go to this extreme, but this shows a true level of desperation on the part of the robber. Good police work – with my deputies, the Lake City Police Department and Baker’s K-9 Division – is why this suspect was apprehended. No one gave up and the end results is the suspect in a serious crime is behind bards."
