Shopper stops robbery suspect with pepper spray
Suspect tried snatching the 77-year-old's purse at a Kangaroo Express. A "one-man crime spree" was halted by a 77-year-old woman with a can of pepper spray, Jacksonville police said Wednesday.
Torre Sebastian Harris, 20, was arrested Tuesday about 5:30 p.m. shortly after a robbery at a Kangaroo Express store in the 8300 block of Baymeadows Road. Chief David Stevens of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said a man entered the store, pointed a gun in the clerk's face and demanded money.
The contents of the cash register didn't satisfy him, so he tried to snatch a customer's purse, according to a police report. The victim, Gladys Gehrig, fought back and sprayed the thief with a container of pepper spray attached to her key chain.
"She got him good in the face," Stevens said.
Police picked Harris up a short distance away.
Stevens said he was linked to six other robberies throughout January on the city's Southside by witness identifications and surveillance footage.
Harris was charged with 14 felonies and held in lieu of bail.