On Tuesday, March 17, 2015, at 3:57 pm, St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the Shell gas station at 707 Highway LA 3127 in Edgard for the report of an attempted armed robbery. No one was injured.
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The perpetrator was making a purchase at the sales counter. When the cash register drawer opened, he told the clerk to give him the money. When the clerk refused to surrender the money, he raised his shirt to expose a handgun in the waistband of his pants. The store clerk pushed the alarm button, and the perpetrator fled the store leaving in a blue Ford Explorer towards St. Charles Parish. He sat in the front passenger seat; the driver and a rear seat passenger also occupied the vehicle.
Communication dispatchers notified the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office about the incident and provided them with the description of the run vehicle. St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies stopped the vehicle on Highway LA 3127 in St. Charles Parish 10 minutes after the initial call.
The investigation revealed to detectives that the perpetrator acted alone. Investigators identified the perpetrator as Shawn Himel, 45, of Paradise, LA. When the St. Charles Parish deputy attempted to stop the vehicle, the driver and other passenger in the vehicle were not aware of Himel’s action in the store until Himel pointed the gun at the driver and told him not to stop. When the driver refused Himel’s command and pulled over to stop, Himel threw the handgun out the window.
St. John the Baptist Parish detectives obtained a judicial court ordered arrest warrant for Shawn Himel for armed robbery or attempted with the use of a firearm and carrying of a firearm by a convicted felon. Authorities will transfer Himel to St. John the Baptist Parish to be booked upon his release from St. Charles Parish.