Police: Arkansan armed with pellet gun steals from Wal-Mart, arrested

Hetherington
Hetherington

An Arkansas man armed with a pellet gun that appeared to be a real weapon was arrested Wednesday after stealing from a Wal-Mart, the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record reported.

Officers responded to the store at 1601 Albert Pike Road around 5 p.m., where an employee said a man — later identified as Andrew Rodney Hetherington, 32 — had concealed several items of store merchandise in his pants, according to an affidavit cited by the newspaper.

Hetherington tried to leave without paying when the employee confronted him and tried to detain him at the door, the Sentinel-Record reported.

The Hot Springs resident tried to flee, and during a struggle with the employee, his shirt came off, exposing a black handgun tucked in the front of his pants, police were told.

Hetherington said he had a gun and would use it, pointing to the weapon in his waistband, the employee said.

An officer who stopped the 32-year-old in the store's parking lot said the weapon then fell down into Hetherington's pants leg, where it was recovered and found to be a pellet gun "the average person would believe to be an actual firearm," according to the affidavit cited by the newspaper.

He is charged with aggravated robbery, property theft and two counts of possession of a controlled substance and was being held at the Garland County jail in lieu of $75,000 bond as of Friday afternoon, records show.

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