Amanuel Perkins told Maplewood, Missouri police he held up a local business at gun point as a St. Patrick’s Day joke, and now everyone is laughing … at him.
Perkins, 18, waltzed into a Sole Survivor Leather store in Maplewood with a multicolored water gun, pointed it at the owner, and demanded money, the store owner told police.
The owner was startled at first, but quickly realized Perkins’ squirt gun wasn’t a threat and brushed it aside before forcing him to leave, KMOV reports.
Police arrived shortly after and arrested the teen on one count of first-degree robbery.
First degree robbery is a Class A felony in Missouri, and punishable with a minimum of 10 years in prison, though specifics about the crime are also factored in, according to CriminalDefenseLawyer.com.
“According to police, Perkins said the incident, which happened last week, was a joke for St. Patrick’s Day and he did not really intend to rob the store,” Inside Edition reports.
Perkins is now sitting in St. Louis County Jail with a $25,000 bond.
Perkins is apparently not the first Missouri man to use St. Patrick’s Day as an excuse for robbery.
Just last year, 33-year-old Brian Fry robbed an Express Mart in Kirksville using a pellet gun, though his weapon actually looked like the real deal. Fry demanded cash before herding store employees into a storage room and taking their belongings, as well.
It took investigators one day to track down Fry using surveillance video and he pleaded no contest to robbery in December, according to Inside Edition.
Fry was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Folks online had a lot to say about Perkins’ recent arrest.
“Toy gun or not, the idiot was still attempting to commit a crime,” Sara Watcher posted to Facebook. “Woulda served him right to get shot.”
“He is fortunate he is not dead. The owner or someone else could have shot him with a REAL (gun),” Terrance Temple wrote.
“You can tell by looking at this guy he isn’t very bright,” Randy Haley added.
“Gonna squirt him to death,” Mark Stevenson posted.
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