Persistent store manager helps police arrest armed robbery suspect
WBZ, SURVEILLANCE VIDEO, CNN
By Beth Germano
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WORCESTER, Massachusetts (WBZ) — A Worcester man has been arrested for armed robbery after allegedly threatening a liquor store clerk with a handgun. A persistent store manager is being credited for leading police to him.
“I saw someone that looked a little rough walking and wandering,” said Mohamed Abdel-Mawla, manager of a Worcester Price Chopper, who had just given an employee a ride to work when he saw suspicious activity at Boston Liquor store next door. “When he was walking into the liquor store, he had that bag in his right hand, and he pulled a gun and he opened the door with his left hand slowly,” said Abdel-Mawla.
Clerk threatened Worcester police said 36-year-old Liam Chagnon was getting nips and cigarettes when he suddenly threatened the liquor store clerk with a handgun.
A store manager who did not want to be identified spoke with WBZ-TV. “It was really bad because it was his first time he had ever saw a gun,” the manager said. “He was scared, very scared.”
The clerk can be heard on surveillance saying, “I got you”, and is seen nervously bagging the items while facing the gun.
Mohamed Abdel-Mawla called 911 and then followed Chagnon as he made his way down the shopping plaza with a police dispatcher on the line. “He was walking by the stores, kind of walking fast, sweating, shaking a little bit here and there,” Abdel-Mawla said.
“I had to follow him” He was worried Chagnon would even go into Price Chopper armed, but the suspect, he says, made his way to Ted’s Pizza where he was seen trying to open a locked door. Abdel-Mawla was still watching from a distance as the suspect walked a few minutes to an apartment complex where police arrived and made the arrest thanks to Abdel-Mawla’s persistence. “I felt that I had to follow him to make sure that people are safe from this guy,” he said.
The liquor store manager says Chagnon is a regular customer who sometimes needs help, but this was different. She’s grateful to Abdel-Mawla for taking such quick action. “He’s very brave. It seems like he’s helping everyone out here too, but I hope people will not be afraid,” she said.
Abdel-Mawla says he hopes he prevented something from happening. Fortunately, no one was injured, and Chagnon has been charged with armed robbery.
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