Damon Bryant, the Avondale man who in the summer of 2017 was arrested for the armed robbery and shooting of an ATM worker at the drive-thru window of Burger King in Boutte, has been charged by a grand jury in Jefferson Parish with several other armed robberies that took place just before that incident.
Bryant, 21 and of 216 Chapel Lane in Avondale, was charged with involvement in with several restaurant robberies by a Jefferson Parish grand jury. Bryant faces charges there of four counts of armed robbery and a count of carjacking. He pleaded not-guilty.
The armed robbery charges facing Bryant include holdups of a Terrytown Waffle House on July 20, 2017; a woman apparently victimized at gunpoint in a carjacking in Terrytown July 27 of that year; Copeland’s in Elmwood on July 27 and another woman during a July 11 carjacking in Terrytown.
On Aug. 2, 2017, Bryant allegedly shot a man at the drive-thru of Boutte’s Burger King while attempting to rob the man of cash he had with him to replenish ATMs.
He was arrested a day later and charged with attempted first-degree murder and attempted robbery by St. Charles Parish police, but first faces his charges in Jefferson Parish.
Bryant observed the victim get cash at a Capital One bank in Elmwood and then followed him to St. Charles Parish intending to rob him, according to the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office.
The victim first stopped at a RaceTrac in Boutte, but their electronic system to accept payment was down and the store could only accept cash. The victim did not have personal cash, so he left to go elsewhere. The victim told detectives he recalled Bryant approaching him at the RaceTrac before he left.
“That apparently skewed (Bryant’s) plan,” said St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne following the incident.
That spurred the victim to travel across the street to Burger King, where Bryant allegedly followed. The victim paid for and accepted his food, then stopped to check his order before leaving. That’s when Bryant approached his vehicle and attempted to stop him.
“He got in front of his car and told him to stop,” Champagne said. “The victim attempted to drive away and swerved … the perpetrator fired his shot. The victim had his arm up in defensive posture.”
Champagne said the bullet struck the victim above the elbow and traveled some distance above his arm. The injury was not life-threatening but apparently caused some tendon and nerve damage.
Before approaching the victim at Burger King, Bryant allegedly parked his vehicle in the parking lot of a nearby IHOP and walked to the Burger King drive-thru on foot, cutting through the yard of the St. Charles Parish schools’ Pupil Appraisal Center.
Following the shooting, the victim drove himself to the nearby LaQuinta Inn hotel, where employees alerted the Sheriff’s Office of the situation.
Be the first to comment