COLUMBIA — A 37-year-old Columbia man was arrested Wednesday night on suspicion of robbing a customer at the Break Time convenience store on Paris Road, police said.
Marlon E. Lewis was arrested at about 6 p.m. by detectives working with the SWAT Team, Columbia police patrol officers and members of the Street Crimes Unit, according to a police news release.
Columbia police, who responded while the robbery was in progress, said a customer at the convenience store at 2402 Paris Road was robbed at about 10 p.m. by a man who entered the men’s restroom with a handgun. The man demanded money from the customer, Steven Schrader, 48, according to the news release. The robber then ran from the store, police said.
Police spokeswoman Jessie Haden said no one was injured in the incident.
In a previous robbery at the store on April 10, a man entered the store, threatened an employee with a handgun, demanded money and fled with cash from the register, according to previous Missourian reports. There were no customers in the store at the time.
There have been 37 robberies in Columbia through April of this year, 12 involving guns, according to police statistics. That's exactly the same number of robberies in the same period last year, according to police statistics.