An employee says he managed to outsmart an armed robber by locking him inside a North Philadelphia store on Tuesday, prompting a barricade situation when the suspect allegedly tried to shoot his way out.
The employee told NBC10 the man first entered the Boost Mobile store on the 2700 block of North 5th Street and asked for iPhones. He left the store and then returned at 5:17 p.m., this time displaying a gun, according to police.
The employee said the suspect pointed the gun at his head and demanded that he give him his money. The employee told the man he didn’t have any money but could get some if he allowed him to leave.
The employee said the robber let him exit the store. The employee then locked him inside.
Police said the robber then began firing shots through the front of the store in an attempt to get out but couldn't break the glass.
He then ran downstairs into the basement of the store and started banging on the door of an adjacent business, according to investigators.
"He came up our basement steps but our door is really strong," Dianna Sullivan, who works at the adjacent business, told NBC10. "He shot to see if he could open the lock."
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Police, Homeland Security and the SWAT Team were called to the scene and a barricade situation was declared at 5:26 p.m. The responding officers captured the suspect, who they later identified as 20-year-old Shawn Brown, and took him into custody at 6:13 pm. A weapon was also recovered, police said.
Brown is charged with robbery, possessing instruments of crime, recklessly endangering another person, theft-receiving stolen property, aggravated assault, terroristic threats and other related offenses.
