Would-be robber tackled

Thursday, November 19, 2009 3:00 AM  |  Printer friendly version | E-mail to a friend | Salisbury Police, with a little help from firefighters, caught a would-be robber coming out of Wendy’s Wednesday night.

Police officers patrolling East Innes Street responded so quickly to the report of a robbery in progress, they arrived on the scene before he got any money.

Inside the restaurant, police say he held an employee at gunpoint, putting what appeared to be an automatic weapon against her head.

And he was taken into custody within a minute or so after he slipped and fell in the middle of Innes Street, dropping his gun.

Firefighters at Station 1 called in the report of the robbery when they saw a man go into Wendy’s with a gun. They watched the action and joined in as an officer was attempting to subdue the robber, with a half dozen piling on the man who was fighting the police officer.

At that point police got a close look at the gun which turned out to be a pellet gun made to look like an automatic weapon.

Steven Michael Jones Jr., 20, of the streets of Salisbury, is charged with robbery with a dangerous weapon, assault on a government official, injury to personal property, kidnapping and assault by pointing a gun. His bond is set at $125,000.