Youth surrenders, admits using stun gun in robberies

**HiredGoon** · March 2nd, 2009, 04:13 AM

Youth surrenders, admits using stun gun in robberies

Monday, March 02, 2009
By Moriah Balingit, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A 16-year-old boy who told police he used a stun gun to rob the Select Mini-Mart in Squirrel Hill twice in one week turned himself in Friday, according to an affidavit.

Craig Anthony Black of Larimer is charged as an adult with two counts each of robbery and possession of an instrument of crime for allegedly robbing the store, located at 5829 Forward Ave.

He showed up with his grandmother at the Zone 1 police station on the North Side on Friday and was then transported to city police headquarters, where he delivered a verbal and written confession, according to the affidavit.

Mr. Black told police he went into the convenience store Feb. 18 around 4 p.m., grabbed some food and then went to the store counter. After store clerk Roberta Paxon opened the cash register, he put the stun gun against her chest and pulled the trigger, "sending an electrical charge to (her), causing her to fall backwards in pain."

The teenager reached into the cash drawer, grabbed about $200 and fled.

Less than a week later, on Feb. 24 around 6:30 p.m., Mr. Black went to the store again, grabbed a pack of gum and went to the counter, where a male clerk was working. He said he went to shock the clerk but wasn't sure if he connected, but the man cried out and Mr. Black reached across the counter and grabbed $172.

He ran out of the store and headed toward Tilbury Avenue before catching a Port Authority bus home.

Sgt. Nate Hawthorne of Zone 4 in Squirrel Hill said the convenience store has been robbed before, but it was the first time he had ever heard of someone using a stun gun in any robbery.

"That was something new to me," he said.