ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 20, 1990                   TAG: 9007200488
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Laurence Hammack
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short


SHOPLIFTING INCIDENT RESULTS IN VIOLENCE

Five men have been charged with offenses ranging from impeding police to armed robbery after a shoplifting incident at a Roanoke convenience store turned violent, police said Thursday.

A clerk at the Pic Quik store in the 4500 block of Salem Turnpike Northwest told police that a man tried to walk out of the store about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday without paying for two 12-packs of beer.

The clerk chased the man and tackled him in the store's parking lot. An armed man then stepped from behind some bushes and threatened to kill the clerk, police said.

As the clerk backed off, the two men fled and were joined by a third man. The men stopped to drink the beer in a nearby wooded area, where they were confronted by police.

One ran to a nearby home in the 1100 block of Summit Avenue and hid in the bathroom.

Minor Edward Caldwell, 28, of Ward Street Northwest, was arrested and charged with robbery by violence. Two occupants of the home, Herbert Lloyd Ferris, 71, and Jerry Allen Ferris, 36, were charged with impeding police.

Authorities found two other men in the wooded area. Troy Dean Riddle, 26, of Ferrum was charged with armed robbery, and Marvin Everette Hicks of Salem was charged with being a principal in the second degree to robbery. -



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