The early morning of Dec. 19, a white man covering his face with his shirt entered the Mobile station’s convenience store on Palm Coast Parkway, near the Palm Harbor shopping center, walked up to the counter, and demanded money from the store clerk.
Samantha Baxley, the 38-year-old female clerk, refused. “Don’t make me use it,” the man said, suggesting that what he was covering under his shirt was a gun. “Use it if you have to,” Baxley replied. She did not hand over any money.
The man left the store. Baxley called 911 and went outside to see where the man had gone. She provided a complete description of the man and what he was wearing, down to the light colored cargo shorts, the tattoo on his outer right calf, and the scar on his forehead, near his hairline.
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office announced today that William Cory Hall, 35, of 32 Woodbury Drive in Palm Coast, was arrested Friday morning in connection with that attempted robbery. The arrest took place following a traffic stop on Redmill Lane, shortly after detectives observed Hall driving away from his home. Detective Roger Spires initiated the stop, according to a sheriff’s release, after he watched Hall walk out of his house and get into his vehicle.
It’s not clear how detectives connected Hall to his address, enabling the surveillance that then led to his arrest, or what the traffic stop was about. There were no independent witnesses to the would-be robbery, but the convenience store had a video surveillance system which showed the man entering the store, and an evidence technician retried a DNA sample from the outside door handle.
Hall’s mugshot shows a scar on his forehead, near his hairline. He is charged with robbery, and is being held on$25,000 bond.
In an unrelated incident, 15-year-old Aatif Mims of 2 Webb Place in Palm Coast was arrested and charged with third degree felony arson, loitering and prowling and violation of probation after he was discovered smelling of smoke and possessing a lighter in the same area where four small fires had just been reported.
Mims is the second participant in Flagler County schools’ mentor program for at-risk students to be arrested on a felony charge in the last two weeks. On Jan. 15, a student at Matanzas High School was accused of raping a 14-year-old student there.
Deputies began receiving calls about brush fires around 7:24 p.m. in the W Section, the first one near Webster Lane. Firefighters were dispatched and put out what had originally been reported as a brushfire, in the yard of a Webster Lane home. While there, the same firefighters had to respond to two other calls in the same area.
Four hours later, yet another fire was reported in the area of Wellington Drive. At that time, the sheriff’s office reports, and based on the number of fires reported, the Safe Neighborhood Unit was mobilized. Around 12:46 a.m., deputies located Mims near the fires.
After questioning by deputies, Mims was charged. “This teenager put the lives and property of people in this neighborhood in jeopardy. We are fortunate these fires were extinguished quickly and that we were able to make this arrest,” Flagler County Sheriff Jim Manfre said.
The teen was booked into the Flagler County jail before being transferred to the Division of Youth Services in Daytona Beach.
The Truth says
I admire the woman at the gas station, but you better believe I wouldn’t be risking my life for that gas station. She was taking a big risk by refusing as he could have very easily had a gun and shot her right there. I’m glad that didn’t happen, and I’m glad the scum was caught and arrested.
Betsy says
I am not saying this guy is innocent or guilty but over the last 5 years here in Palm Coast I have noticed many labor jobs that once was done by locals , has been taken over by inmates from the flagler county correction facility. Everything from road repairs to landscaping to grass cutting. Which means the county saves LOTS of money while their residents have NO jobs. I guess we will continue to see more and more young people do what ever they can to SURVIVE. Perhaps an article about inmates doing the jobs of our residents would be in order.
Magnolia says
William Hall doesn’t look like the criminal type, Betsy. You may be right, though that doesn’t excuse the crime he committed. I wonder if this has anything to do with why the clerk refused to hand over the money? He looks more desperate than criminal, which can be just as dangerous.
Would be interesting to know why he did it, if he has any prior arrests.
Sadly, things are going to get worse before they get better. Might be time to research a list of organizations offering help to people in dire straights, to prevent them from resorting to desperate measures. We’re not getting any help from our government, so we need to get better at helping one another.
Reality Check says
My question is why was a 15 year old out on the street at 12:46 AM? The parents need a good thrashing, my son knows 10PM is the limit on a weekend unless he is at a structured function and we are picking him up after. People need to take responsibility for their children, lay down the law and adhere to it, kids do not always turn out as expected but while they are under your care, YOU NEED TO CARE FOR THEM.
ANONYMOUSAY says
“Magnolia – William Hall doesn’t look like the criminal type. ” Please give us a break. what does a criminal look like these days??? Statements like that irk the heck out of me. Because people THINK they know what a CRIMINAL looks like at first glance and the real suspect gets away and some innocent kid briefly wearing a hoodie gets gunned down. Sad thing about it is your probably a Grandmother. Don’t know how people make it through life with blinders on???
"My Daily Rant" says
Its a shame but I was driving through the Woodlands a while back and the County was putting in a new pump station.Me being nosey I also live there got out to see what was going on, well much to my suprise the 4 guys working in the hole didnt speak english.I went over to the County truck and asked the English speaking White guy
if they were citizens,seeing I want my tax dollars spent on American Citizen workers.
His reply was its alright there sub contractors.That is where a lot of our jobs are going.
Lonewolf says
Resisting a holdup man with a gun is STUPID
Outsider says
Betsy, what you call prisoners taking the jobs away from citizens is what I call making them earn their keep.
Geezer says
But you’d be mad if the four Spanish-speaking fellows didn’t work…….
So you’d rather they go on welfare?
I suggest that you avoid Saint Augustine and all that “Spanish stuff” over there.
¡Hasta los huevos, amigo!
Geezer says
What does a criminal look like?
Howard Duley says
Lady, I tip my cap to you. I’m not sure you weren’t foolish but you had more guts than I would have.
Anonymous says
@ Outsider says: Oh I think the prisoners/detainees should indeed earn their keep, but not at the expense of taking paying jobs away from citizens. Maybe dress these inmates up in their prison attire and make them monitor the middle and high school hallways, and control any fighting, bullying, etc. instead of paying SRO’s. That way these kids can see first hand what will happen to them if they don’t behave; they’ll end up in prison uniforms right back in school babysitting other teenagers.