On Tuesday, July 3, 2012, Roy Mitchell, 22, walked into D’s One Stop Food Mart in Brandon, Mississippi to purchase a bag of Doritos, but when the clerk opens the register, Mitchell pulls out a gun and points it at her.
Mitchell’s mom, who had followed him into the store, notices the disturbance and intervenes. She grabs the gun out of her son’s hand and tells the clerk that the gun is fake.
“The mother sees the commotion, grabs the gun out of the boy’s hand and pushes him out of the store,” Chris Butts, assistant police chief in Brandon, told ABCNews.com.
Mitchell and his mom then exit the store and take off down the road, while the clerk calls 911.
Police catch up to Mitchell in nearby Pelahatchie and place him under arrest.
Mitchell is being held on a $300,000 bond and is facing armed criminal robbery charges.
Butts credits Mitchell’s mom with foiling the robbery. “I kind of feel like she’s somewhat of a little hero,” he said. “If the clerk had a gun it could have been real messy.”