An 18-year-old East Windsor man is facing a lengthy list of criminal charges after police say he robbed a pizza delivery driver at gunpoint in a Hightstown neighborhood, making off with just $50 worth of food. Tahjion Sunkins was arrested without incident on Wednesday and is now being held at the Mercer County Correction Center pending court action.
According to TAPinto, officers were dispatched to a townhouse on Manlove Avenue at approximately 1:45 p.m. on Wednesday, where a delivery driver reported being approached by someone who brandished a handgun before stealing the food. Police described the weapon as a black revolver-style gun consistent with a starter pistol, per the Hightstown Police Department.
Surveillance Footage Leads Police to a Motel
Investigators said video camera footage captured in the area helped them identify and locate Sunkins. That led Hightstown police to track him to a Motel 6 at 351 Franklin Street in East Windsor, the outlet's report notes, where East Windsor Township police officers made initial contact and detained him.
Sunkins was then arrested without incident by Hightstown police, the report states. Officers searched him with his consent and say they recovered evidence connected to the robbery, including a revolver believed to have been used in the holdup. No one involved in the incident was reported injured, per the same account.
Charges Pile Up for East Windsor Teen
Sunkins now faces charges of robbery, theft, criminal mischief, terroristic threats, aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a firearm, and possession of a firearm for unlawful purposes, according to the police-attributed details in the TAPinto report. New Jersey's robbery statute, Title 2C:15-1, covers the offense Sunkins is charged with, while the weapons charges fall under the state's statute on possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes.
The case highlights the coordination between neighboring departments: Hightstown police thanked East Windsor Township police for their assistance in the arrest, the outlet's report notes. The current status of the charges and any court outcome have not been reported.
Armed holdups aren't unheard of in the small borough. A separate incident detailed by a law firm's blog described a Hightstown liquor store being robbed at gunpoint, where a suspect allegedly pointed a semiautomatic handgun at an employee and demanded cash from the register before fleeing with roughly $600, according to njcriminaldefensefirm.com. That employee suffered minor injuries from a fall during the robbery, and at the time the post was written, police were still searching for that suspect.
