Jackson Free Press

Suspects are still in custody as of 4:30 p.m. Dec. 11, after a Dec. 5 hearing on armed-robbery charges for the Nov. 30 incident at Swell-O-Phonic Skateboard Company at N. State St.

The bonds for Jarvis Johnson and Cytize Brown, whom U.S. Marshals arrested Wednesday morning in connection with the robbery, are set at $20,000.

Manager Drew Mellon was working alone at Swell-O-Phonic Friday, Nov. 30, when two men caught his attention.

Two young males entered Swell-O-Phonic and browsed the clothes, shoes, necklaces and skateboards that line the walls of the small store in the Fondren Corner building on North State Street. Mellon didn't think much about it when the men left the store without buying anything.

When they returned a fourth time that day, about 30 minutes before closing time, Mellon began to get suspicious.

"(They) never bought anything, and were always just kind of shady," Mellon told the Jackson Free Press at Swell-O-Phonic Dec. 5. "(They) never wanted to be exactly where I was."

While the two men browsed the store, Mellon snapped a photo with his phone, a photo that would soon go viral and become key evidence for felony arrest warrants.

The two men hung around the store until about 5:50 p.m., 10 minutes before Mellon was supposed to close and lock up. At that time, they set some items on the counter, apparently to purchase--a few pairs of shoes, a couple items of clothing.

Then one of them said he needed baby clothes. Mellon knew then that something was odd about the two men. He said he thought they were going to try to pay with a stolen card or counterfeit money, so he planned to ask for identification, or check any bills with a counterfeit pen.

"I was prepared for what I thought they were going to do," Mellon said.

With one man standing to Mellon's left near a stack of shoes, the man on the other side of the counter pulled out a bottle containing bleach and sprayed it in Mellon's face. With Mellon temporarily blinded, the other man wrapped him up, knocking a frame and a display draped in jewelry off the wall behind the counter.

In the struggle, one of the men grabbed the night deposit, totaling about $340, out of Mellon's back pocket. Mellon, a small-statured man who spends much of his time outside of Swell-O-Phonic working and raising money to stop child trafficking in Cambodia, almost immediately began to fight back against the robbers.

One of the men got away. The other tried to follow, but Mellon fought him all the way out the door and down the sidewalk, exchanging blows, wrestling and tearing two big holes in the bandit's shirt.

"Everything, basically, from (the counter) to the door, we knocked all over (the store)," Mellon said. "Outside, in front of Rooster's, is the last spot where we actually kind of tied up."

Rooster's has a video camera aimed at the sidewalk where Mellon and the thief exchanged blows before the bandit got free and ran across the street. Mellon followed, but soon decided to turn around and go back to the store.

Jackson Police responded and investigated the crime. They determined that the charge would be strong-armed robbery, which got homicide detectives on the case.

Within a couple of hours, store owner Ron Chane was telling the story on social media, particularly Twitter and Facebook, looking for the culprits. He posted the photo Mellon took prior to the robbery, and the video from Rooster's soon followed. In almost no time, Chane, and then the police, had names of the two suspects.

"All throughout the night Friday, and for probably 48 hours, I received close to 50 calls of people rolling over on these guys," Chane told the JFP from New York City during a phone interview.

As the information came in through Facebook--names and phone numbers of the suspects--Chane sent the information to Jackson Police.

On Tuesday, Dec. 4, police obtained arrest warrants for Johnson and Brown. Because the two had just left jail and were wanted for violent felony crimes, the U.S. Marshal Fugitive Task Force joined the manhunt.

On the morning of Dec. 5, U.S. Marshals found and arrested Johnson and Brown for strong-armed robbery.