Cellphone, gun trump attacker with knife

The robber came in the door of the Beverage Mart liquor store in Roswell, waving a big, black hunting knife. He wanted the money in his knapsack. Now!

He lunged at the clerk, Joseph Wescott, 59, who leaned back to get away from that 10-inch gleaming blade. The knife hit the cellphone in Wescott’s breast pocket instead.

That bought time. Time enough for Wescott to reach for the Glock .40 he kept under the counter.

It was Monday night, about 8:30 p.m., and that’s when robbery suspect Carlos Jeanpierre, 24, of Atlanta, realized this might be the end.

He ran for the door, but not before Wescott got off a round, hitting him in the side. The bullet went in the right side and lodged in the left side of the abdomen.

“He’ll live,” said Roswell Police Lt. James McGee. After doctors remove the bullet, police will match it against the gun, McGee said. Jeanpierre is charged with attempted armed robbery, aggravated assault and weapons possession.

Store owner Mike Burnett watched the crime afterward on the store video and spoke with Wescott, who is the father of a Roswell Police officer. The son had bought his dad both the gun and the phone, Wescott said.

The phone was a little one, similar to a Razr, Burnett said. It still worked after the attack, because that is what Wescott used to call police, he said. The phone is in evidence now.

It’s unclear if Jeanpierre was a regular customer at the liquor store, but he has been a regular with the Roswell Police.

Jeanpierre has been charged with several offenses previously in Roswell, including criminal trespass, simple assault, possession of marijuana, disorderly conduct, burglary, theft by receiving and cruelty to children, McGee said.

Burnett, a former engineer, has owned the liquor store about six months.

He said he bought it with the stipulation that Wescott continue working there because he has experience in running the business.

Burnett’s son, Robert, stood by his father Tuesday in the liquor store, wearing a black T-shirt that said, “Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Should Be a Convenience Store, not a Government Agency.”

Burnett has a gun too.

“This business tends to be a high-cash business,” Burnett said. “It’s good protection.”