Four Laurel men didn’t spend the Halloween holiday trick-or-treating, as their alleged robbery of the Valero gas station on Highway 11 North earlier this week landed them behind bars.
Officers from the Ellisville Police Department were dispatched to the gas station Tuesday on an armed robbery call. Four men, with one wielding a gun, had left the scene by the time the officers arrived, but they got a description of the suspects and the car they left in from witnesses. The EPD relayed that information on to the Jones County Central Dispatch, and a short time later four suspects were nabbed by the Laurel Police Department and brought back to the scene. The men were then identified by witnesses as the ones who had committed the robbery.
The witnesses stated that the men came into the store, demanded money and fired shots at the safe. Ellisville Police Chief Bruce Russell said no one was injured in the robbery, despite two rounds from a .357 pistol being popped at the safe. The casings from the two rounds were recovered by officers.
“We have a strong case here,” noted EPD Investigator Scott Wuertz.
The four men arrested, all from Laurel, were James Shanks Jr., Eric Jones, Quintin McCormick and I’jerrius Nixon. The quartet was taken before Justice Judge David Lyon for their initial appearance yesterday. The judge set each of the suspects bonds at $25,000.
The Ellisville Police Department commended Central Dispatch and the Laurel Police Department for their good work in the quick apprehension of the suspects.