Maryland: Guard shoots man during attempted grocery store robbery

Arbitus, Maryland

From the Cantonsville Times of June 23, 2009

Guard shoots man during attempted grocery store robbery

An exchange of gunfire between a security guard and an alleged robber at the Mars Super Market on Maiden Choice Lane and Westland Boulevard, in Arbutus, Sunday evening left the alleged robber with several gunshot wounds, according to Baltimore County police.

It also left the store, at the Maiden Choice Shopping Center in the 1000 block of Maiden Choice Lane, without some of its front windows — which were boarded up Monday morning.

Neither the guard nor any customers in the store were injured, police said.

At 6:52 p.m. June 21, Jamison Harvey Johnson, 40, entered the store and “announced the robbery,” said Bill Toohey, a police spokesman.

Johnson then walked to the store’s customer service office, where he demanded and was given an undisclosed amount of cash, police said.

An armed security guard employed by Mars who was inside the store followed Johnson to the store’s entrance and confronted him, police said.

Johnson, whose address is listed as “unknown” in court records, then shot at the guard, Toohey said.

The guard returned fire and Johnson then ran into the parking lot and got into a green Honda Accord, Toohey said.

As the gunman drove away, he again fired on the security guard, who again shot back, Toohey said.

The car was found a short time later at the end of Wilton Farm Drive, in Catonsville.

Police began searching the area, using a helicopter and a K-9 unit.

A man fitting Johnson’s description was spotted walking along Kenwood Avenue, in Catonsville, with several gunshot wounds by an officer involved in the search at about midnight, almost five hours after the gunfire occurred, Toohey said.

The man was caught after a brief foot chase, police said, and taken to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he received treatment for gunshot wounds.

Johnson was later charged with armed robbery, attempted murder and two handgun violations — one for the possession of a firearm with a felony conviction.

In 1996, Johnson, then living in the 1800 block of West Pratt Street, in Baltimore, was found guilty of robbery with a deadly weapon, according to court records.

Bail has been denied, and Johnson is being held in the Baltimore County Detention Center, in Towson.

Toohey said another man ran from the store during the incident, which “drew the interest of authorities.”

Police are “checking to see if there is any evidence that can link him to what happened,” Toohey said.