One suspect was arrested and another remains at large after two masked men robbed a gas station in East Anchorage and pepper sprayed three people, police say.
Just after midnight Wednesday, the Anchorage Police Department was dispatched to a Tesoro on Boniface Parkway, located near the Glenn Highway. When officers arrived, they found that two masked men had entered the gas station and that one of them had demanded money from the clerk “while displaying a knife and pepper spray,” according to a statement from APD spokeswoman Anita Shell.
Although the clerk complied with the robbers’ demands, the suspects pepper sprayed two employees and a customer before fleeing the scene, Shell wrote. The release did not state how much money or items were stolen.
The men ran across Boniface into a nearby yard. The owner of the property, who was armed, exited his home and confronted the two suspects. One of them ran away, but police were able to nab 20-year-old Brion M. Brown.
Brown was arrested for third-degree assault, robbery and three counts of fourth-degree assault, police say.
“One of them did have a knife that was visible and was running in the direction of an other customer who was pumping gas into their vehicle,” said APD spokesperson Renee Oistad. “And that person was in fear seeing a masked man come running towards them with a knife. So, the fear that resulted from that action is what the other assault charge is for.”
Brown was arraigned Wednesday.
–This is a developing story.