Fayette County Sheriff’s investigators today announced the arrest of an Alabama man who shot a north Fayette convenience store clerk during an armed robbery Jan. 10.
David Earl Parnell, 41, of Troy, Ala. was identified based on forensic evidence and video surveillance obtained at the BP located on Ga. Highway 138 near Ga. Highway 279, investigators said.
Parnell was arrested Thursday, Jan. 27 by the United States Marshalls Service in Huntsville, Ala. and he is currently in the Madison County (Ala.) jail awaiting extradition, officials said.
The clerk received a superficial wound when a bullet fired during the incident grazed his leg, officials said.
Parnell is charged with armed robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, false imprisonment, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
The incident began when the suspect approached the counter and displayed a gun, demanding money, investigators said. The gun discharged at some point, grazing the clerk, and then the clerk placed an undisclosed amount of money in a bag and gave it to the suspect, officials said.
The clerk told deputies that the suspect took the money and ran east from the store towards Clayton County, and deputies assisted by a Fayetteville Police K-9 officer and Clayton County police tried to track the suspect on foot.
The track led deputies to a residential area on Highland Hills Road in north Fayette County where it is believed the suspect fled in a waiting vehicle, investigators said.
The clerk was treated at the scene by Fayette County paramedics for “superficial” injuries he received during the assault.
