Police have charged a 28-year-old Middletown man in an armed robbery Thursday night at a gas station near Wesleyan University and the public library.
Tyrell Lockhart was wearing a mask and pointed a BB gun at the clerk when he robbed he Gasman gas station on Broad Street at 9:48 p.m., according to police.
As a customer called 911 to report the robbery, Lockhart jumped over the counter and stole around eight packages of Newport Light cigarettes, then jumped back over the counter and ran out the door, according to police.
Police who were canvassing the area and looking for the robber found Lockhart, who looked nervous and was trying to take off his shirt, according to police. When officers approached him, Lockhart fled and ran into a three-story rooming and apartment house on Church Street apartment, according to police.
He later walked out of the house and police detained him.
The SWAT team was then called in, secured the building and ensured there were no other suspects.
The surveillance video from Gasman showed a man in a black mask waiving what appeared to be a gun in an aggressive manner, then jump over the counter, knocking over a rack in the process before he took several packs of cigarettes.
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Police said they found the gun next to a showprint from a size 11 Nike in the area Lockhart was first seen. Police said the shoeprint matched what Lockhart was wearing and they noted the gun looked like a semi-automatic handgun, but turned out to be a BB gun.
Police also found balled up clothing on top of a box at Traverse Square, a federally subsidized housing complex, and the resident said the clothing did not belong to anyone in the home.
Lockhart was charged with first-degree robbery, carrying a dangerous weapon, criminal possession of an electronic defense weapon and first-degree reckless endangerment.
Bond was set at $500.000 and he is due in court today.
