ST ANN, Mo. — A man was charged after he pulled out a gun and threatened a St. Louis County sandwich shop employee about "his order being wrong," prosecutors said.
James Demetrius Jackson IV, 29, of St. Louis County, was charged by the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office with one felony count of unlawful use of a weapon.
“In police work you see a lot of crazy things,” said Lieutenant Blake Carrigan with the St. Ann Police Department.
According to St. Ann police, on Oct. 19, Jackson walked into Penn Station, located along Saint Charles Rock Road, angry about his order being wrong. While he argued with employees, he pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot a 16-year-old employee, a press release said.
The victim told police Jackson pointed a gun at him, threatened to shoot him and said he'd be back when the victim got off work, the release said.
“He went back to the store and wanted his refund or his sandwich made correctly and whenever he didn’t get what he liked, he produced his firearm and he threatened to kill the individual,” Carrigan said.
Police said surveillance video showed Jackson inside the store for several seconds after pulling out his gun and yelling at the victim. The video also showed employees running out of the store after he displayed the gun.
“It just baffles me every time I hear something like that. It’s just crazy that you can’t even come to work and be safe,” said one Penn Station customer on Friday.
A manager of the store found that the food was ordered in-store by the man and he later called the store complaining about it being wrong. The investigation found that the phone number was connected to Jackson's address.
Police went to his address and placed him under arrest. A woman turned over the gun, which was loaded, to police.
The 29-year-old admitted to police that he had pulled out his gun at Penn Station and claimed the employees were "laughing and talking crazy to me," the release said. He said it made him fear for his life and worried that he would not get out of the store safely.
“We need to learn how to control ourselves and not let our emotions get the best of us,” Carrigan said.
He was being held on a $50,000 cash-only bond.
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