Marietta police charged an 18-year-old man Tuesday with aggravated assault with intent to murder in the stabbing of a pawn shop employee during a robbery.
Tomas Lopez Torres Jr., of Marietta, had been arrested Monday for the armed robbery of a Chevron gas station at South Marietta Parkway and Powers Ferry Road, police said.
“During the course of the investigation, the on-scene detective recognized Torres as a person of interest related to the Hock Shop Robbery based on the photo obtained from Wal-Mart camera footage,” Officer David Baldwin, Marietta police spokesman, said in a news release.
Investigators working with Wal-Mart loss-prevention personnel had recovered a video of a man purchasing a knife at the Wal-Mart on Cobb Parkway, police said.
During questioning by detectives, Torres confessed to the April 14 attack at The Hock Shop, at Cobb Parkway and Gresham Road. A man wearing a woman’s wig and knit cap had confronted a store employee, and the two struggled before the victim was repeatedly stabbed.
The suspect ran out of the store, leaving the wig and hat behind, police said. A trail of blood from the front of the store to the back led to a critically injured victim, who used his own hands to staunch the bleeding from his wounds and was able to reach a phone to call 911.
Torres also was charged with aggravated battery to disfigure and attempted armed robbery with injury, police said. He was being held without bond Tuesday evening in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center.
Additional charges against Torres are pending in other active cases, police said.
The victim of The Hock Shop attack, who initially was taken to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital, Marietta, has been recuperating and “is doing well extremely well. He’s out of the hospital and home and probably may even be returning to work soon,” Baldwin said.
-- Staff writer Alexis Stevens contributed to this article.
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