VERO BEACH — The Vero Beach Police Department arrested a teenager accused of holding up at gunpoint the clerk of the Quick Stop convenience store on 16th Street in the parking lot at 12:13 a.m. July 4. Police arrived within one minute of receiving the call.
The clerk, Moin Uddin Chowdhury, told authorities that a young black male robbed him at gunpoint as he closed the store and was getting into his car. Chowdhury said the teen pointed a small black pistol at him through his driver’s side window and demanded Chowdhury’s “money bag.”
Chowdhury gave the teen a Wal-Mart shopping bag containing his wallet with $14 cash and his eyeglasses.
The teen then fled the scene on foot across 16th Street, Chowdhury told investigators.
Authorities set up a perimeter and began searching for the teen, who was described as wearing a black hoodie. Officers discovered a silver Dodge van, which a teen matching the suspect’s description was driving.
Officers stopped the van and identified the driver as Jonovan Gaines, 16, who was found with Chowdhury’s wallet and glasses. They also found a loaded black .25-caliber BOA automatic handgun.
According to the Vero Beach Police Department, Gaines was uncooperative with detectives and denied involvement in the armed robbery.
Gaines was taken to the Department of Youth Services in Ft. Pierce, where he is currently being held pending a bond hearing.
He faces charges that include felonies: armed robbery with a firearm, using a firearm in the commission of a felony, and possession of a firearm by a delinquent; and misdemeanors: petit theft and driving while license suspended.