Aaron Kinney, Accused as Gas Station Robber, Had Reported Woodlands Attack in October

Last Updated: Monday 7:01 p.m.

Monday Update: Aaron Kinney, 33, of 12 Blythe Place, was arrested Sunday evening and charged with attempted armed robbery just after he tried to rob the Mobile station near I-95 on State Road 100, according to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.

Kinney may also be responsible for two other weekend holdups that took place in Palm Coast. He was being held in the Flagler County jail Monday on $27,000 bond on charges of attempted robbery with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest without violence and driving with a suspended license.

It’s not Kinney’s first trip to the county jail. In February 2010, he was booked on a driving on a suspended license charge. In 2007, he faced a minor marijuana charge.

Curiously, Kinney was the man who, last October, told sheriff’s deputies that he had been attacked, at gunpoint, in the Woodlands, at the intersection of Blare and Oak Trails Blvd. He accused two unidentified black men of pulling up in their car as he was walking and ask him for a cigarette. He was then, as he told cops at the time, forced to the ground and had cash stolen, along with his driver’s license.

Kinney is currently charged with walking into the Mobile station on State Road 100 around 7:11 p.m. and brandishing a knife while demanding money from the clerk. When the clerk did not hand over any cash, Kinney then exited the store but he was located minutes later traveling westbound on S.R. 100 near Bulldog Drive.

Deputies stopped him there and the gas station clerk was transported to the scene. The clerk positively identified Kinney as the would-be robber.

Detectives consider him a person of interest in a Saturday afternoon robbery on the Shell station on Celico Way in Palm Coast and to a Sunday afternoon robbery at the BP Station on Old Dixie Highway in southern Flagler County. In all three incidents, the robber threatened the clerk with a knife.

Kinney’s mug shot shows him bruised on his forehead and cheek.

Sunday Evening Update, II: Flagler County Sheriff Don Fleming confirmed at 9:30 this evening that the suspected robber was caught and was being booked into the Flagler County jail.

Sunday Evening Update: at 7:14 p.m., Fire Flight, the county’s emergency response helicopter, was scrambled in response to reports of yet another robbery, the third, at 6020 East State Road 100, a Mobile gas station.

But there was an unconfirmed report that the get-away vehicle may have been pulled over after the robbery.

The call to Fire Flight was cancelled at 7:23 p.m., suggesting that the suspect may be in custody.

Earlier Sunday: For the second time in two days, an armed man–likely the same man–entered a Flagler County business and robbed the clerk.

The clerk at the BP Station at 2245 Old Dixie Highway in southern Flagler County told deputies the man entered the store Sunday around 12:26 p.m, selected a soft drink and placed it on the counter. He then pulled a 10 to 12-inch knife and demanded money from the register drawer. He fled the store on foot, but may be driving a silver Pontiac Sunfire or Chevy Cavalier. The vehicle was last seen headed eastbound on Old Dixie Highway toward I-95.

The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office is seeking the public’s help in identifying the robber who matches the description of a man who robbed the Shell Station on Celico Way in Palm Coast Saturday. (See below.)

The robber is described as being clean shaven, in his late 20s or early 30s, 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing 200 pounds with short dark hair. Sunday he was wearing a red t-shirt, dark shorts with white stripes and a dark colored ball cap.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at (386) 313-4911.

July 21:

Sheriff’s Deputies Looking for Help in Hunt for Robber of Celico Way Shell Station

The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office is seeking the public’s help in identifying a man who robbed the Shell Station on Celico Way in Palm Coast earlier today (July 21).

The highly trafficked Shell station is known to local residents as a favored hang-out for sheriff’s deputies, perhaps suggesting that the robber is not from the immediate area. Celico Way was renamed in January in honor of Frank Celico, the young sheriff’s deputy who died last September, and who’d made the Shell station convenience store his de facto command post on and off duty.

Detectives said the white male entered the store around 1:16 p.m., carrying a knife tucked to his right side under his shirt. He pulled the knife out and threatened the clerk as he walked behind the counter.

After being given an undetermined amount of cash, the robber fled on foot out of the door and headed in a northern direction. No vehicle was seen.

The robber is described as being 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighing 200 pounds with short dark hair. He was wearing a blue t-shirt, dark colored jeans, dark shoes and reflective sunsglasses.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at (386) 313-4911.