Montgomery teen held up at gunpoint and car stolen at a gas station
A Montgomery teenager was held at gunpoint Saturday night and robbed of his car. They were heart pounding moments for a family that’s relatively new to Montgomery. The Phelps family moved here from Missouri a little over a year ago because of a job with the military. Their oldest son Dock is studying to be an electrician, and they never imagined that he would come face to face with the barrel of a gun when he left to run an errand just before 9pm Saturday evening on the Eastern Boulevard. What started out as a quick trip to the gas station to grab sodas for his dad and brothers turned into a life-changing moment for 18 year old Dock Phelps.
Dock Phelps says,” I walked in got my stuff and then I saw him out of the corner of my eye so I hesitated a little bit.”
As Dock walked out of the convenience store, a man with a blue bag over his head started yelling at the teenager.
Dock says he was just trying to stay calm so the robber would not shoot him. “(I was thinking) just give him the keys and slowly walk away and try not to provoke anything, because some people are just trigger happy out there,” Dock said. Dock’s mom Cori is thankful her son was not hurt, but she is horrified this happened. “It was an assault weapon! How dare you put an assault weapon in my son’s face. It was scary! Now we’re having to deal with repercussions and having to teach what to do and what to watch out for. We don’t want to live in fear, that’s not what God wants us to do, you know. He wants us to live happy and this is not okay.”
According to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and the Montgomery Police Department, the man who stole Dock’s 2004 Buick LeSabre crashed it less than an hour later around Highway 80 and Cantelou Road, then robbed a man of his 2016 Chevrolet Colorado truck at gunpoint. The second victim’s truck was found Sunday morning in Wilcox County. Cori says, “He’s like a serial robber, you know, assaulting people and that’s not okay. That’s a terrorist running around our city and that’s not okay.” Dock says, “I thank God every day. I’m thankful that he protected me through the whole situation.” Cori Phelps told us she believes more attention needs to be paid to the homeless problem here in Montgomery, and she hopes that the Mayor will make a greater effort to hire more police officers as soon as possible.
Update: Captain Whitmore with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office told WAKA Action 8 News late Monday evening that the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office charged a black male juvenile with Robbery 1st in reference to this case; he is currently being held in Wilcox County Jail.
