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A man who shot at a police officer as he fled a violent robbery at a west Charlotte convenience store will spend 17 years in federal prison.
Michael Lamont Moore, 35, of Charlotte was convicted last year of armed robbery, conspiracy and using a gun in furtherance of a crime of violence in connection with the 2010 robbery.
On Thursday, a judge handed down his prison sentence, which will be followed by five years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Moore also was ordered to pay $11,000 in restitution.
Also sentenced was the getaway driver in the robbery, Timothy Herron, 38, of Charlotte. He pleaded guilty in the case last year and was sentenced Thursday to about six years in prison, which will be followed by three years of supervised release. He also was ordered to pay $11,000 in restitution.
The robbery happened on April 30, 2010, at the Thomasboro Grocery on Bradford Drive off Freedom Drive.
Prosecutors said Moore, Herron and two other men – Joseph Alexander Clinton, 37, and Davenon Farmer, 34 – conspired to rob the store.
Moore and Farmer went into the store wearing masks while Clinton held the door open, prosecutors said. Herron waited outside in a van.
Farmer pulled a 16-year-old clerk across the counter and held a loaded handgun to her head, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Moore was the “grab man,” said prosecutors, who alleged that he took $11,000 in cash from the register, as well as cigar boxes behind the counter.
Then, all four men fled in the van. But a responding Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer soon spotted the vehicle.
The suspects stopped the van at Allenbrook Elementary School, where they jumped from the vehicle and ran. As Moore fled, he turned and fired two gunshots at the officer, prosecutors said.
The shooting happened as children were riding bicycles in the school’s parking lot, prosecutors said. No one was hurt.
Farmer pleaded guilty last year to offenses connected with the robbery. He is awaiting sentencing.
A jury found Clinton guilty at trial last year of armed robbery, conspiracy and possession of a gun in furtherance of a crime of violence. His sentencing date has not yet been set.
