A southwest Atlanta grocery clerk was arrested after he allegedly locked a child inside the store and held him at gunpoint.
Big Brother Grocery clerk Abhishek Dubey thought 11-year-old Dylan Curate came to the store early Saturday to steal, according to a police report obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In the report, Dubey, 27, said he saw Dylan walk around the store, head to the exit and say, “Hey! Hold the door.”
Robberies have been an issue at the business, which is in the 1100 block of Lee Street, Dubey told police.
“In the past, Mr. Dubey advised that young kids had come to the store and stole multiple items by having one person hold the door while several others rush in to steal,” police said in the report.
Dubey allegedly used a remote lock to keep Dylan inside the store, pointed a .22-caliber revolver at him, told him to leave and unlocked the door. When he got home, Dylan reported the incident to his mother, who called police.
Store surveillance video revealed Dylan was unarmed and not stealing, police said in the report.
Dubey, who told investigators the gun was unloaded and broken, was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault. He was released from the Fulton County Jail on Monday on a $15,000 signature bond, according to online jail records.
Store employees told Channel 2 Action News Dylan shouldn’t have been out at 1:30 a.m. but holding him at gunpoint was a mistake.
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