An Oklahoma City man has been arrested after witnesses say he savagely beat a 75-year-old clerk in attempting to rob an area convenience store.
Two witnesses say they were trying to enter the Short Stop convenience store at 5503 Northwest 50th Street when a man pushed them out of the store and locked them out. One of the witnesses told local reporters that he and his brother knew something was wrong, so they stayed close by.
Within a couple of minutes, they say, the man who pushed them from the store came running out of the store looking behind him. He was pursued by an elderly man holding a blood soaked rag over his face.
The witnesses tried to assist the injured store clerk as they called 9-1-1. They were informed that police were on their way after the clerk had managed to push a silent alarm during the robbery.
Police quickly identified Alfred Christopher Proctor Jr., 21, as their suspect. They arrested him on robbery complaints, noting that this is not the first time they have arrested the man for robbery.
In fact, in 2012, when Proctor was only 16 years old, he and an accomplice beat and robbed a ice cream vendor in Woodson Park. During that robbery and assault, they broke the vendor's nose and broke his jaw in two places. Police arrested Proctor and his accomplice at the park, recovering $84 from the two teens.
Proctor has numerous convictions and deferred sentences in Oklahoma County, including not only the robbery charges, but also second degree forgery, larceny from a business, multiple counts of assault and battery on a police officer, multiple counts of marijuana possession, aggravated attempt to elude a police officer after prior felony conviction, possession of an offensive weapon in the commission of a felony, possession of a controlled substance in the presence of a minor under 12, possession of a controlled substance (oxycodone, Xanax) without a valid prescription, possession of cocaine, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Under state law, first degree robbery is defined as occurring under one or more of the following circumstances:
1. the perpetrator inflicts serious bodily injury upon the person;
2. the perpetrator threatens a person with immediate serious bodily injury;
3. the perpetrator intentionally puts a person in fear of immediate serious bodily injury; or
4. the perpetrator commits or threatens to commit a felony upon the person.
The state of Oklahoma prescribes a punishment of no less than 10 years in prison for conviction of first degree robbery.
