Nearly two months after allegedly pistol-whipping one man trying to stop him from shoplifting and attempting to shoot another, Antonio McClure was arrested by Gwinnett County sheriff’s deputies.
The 37-year-old Covington man was apprehended Wednesday morning by investigators from the fugitive unit within the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office. He has been charged with aggravated assault, felony shoplifting and probation violation. McClure is also wanted on warrants out of DeKalb and Newton counties, according to jail logs.
READ | Arrest made after SWAT officers deployed to DeKalb apartment complex
PREVIOUSLY | Cops: Shoplifter attempts to shoot Gwinnett shopper trying to stop him
MORE | Georgia Gwinnett College lockdown lifted after 'violent threat'
McClure walked into the Home Depot on Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road on Sept. 5, loaded up a cart with at least $1,500 in merchandise and tried to walk out without paying, according to the sheriff’s office. Multiple shoppers noticed and tried to intervene, but McClure pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot, police said at the time.
McClure pointed the gun at one bystander and pulled the trigger, but the weapon did not fire, police said. He then hit another man in the face with the gun before fleeing with the merchandise, according to the sheriff’s office.
The incident briefly caused a lockdown at Georgia Gwinnett College that afternoon. The campus was on "soft lockdown" for 30 minutes while police checked buildings and parking decks for McClure and the driver of the car McClure allegedly fled in. Neither man was found, and the campus re-opened.
McClure was arrested at Oak Tree Villas apartment complex in Decatur, about a mile from the Kensington MARTA station, around 6 a.m. The DeKalb County Sheriff's Office participated in the arrest, with officers from their fugitive unit and SWAT team assisting, the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office said.
McClure is being held at the Gwinnett County Detention Center without bond.
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