Police: Accused robber asked mom for a mask before going into convenience store

The mother of a 25-year-old man arrested in a failed robbery of a Penn Township convenience store Wednesday told investigators she thought it was “weird” when he asked for a covid-19 mask before entering the store.

After putting on the mask, the woman’s son, Jaime T. Shipley, exited his mother’s Jeep, entered the BP CoGo’s store along Route 130 in Harrison City and passed a note to the clerk demanding cash, police said.

The note stated that Shipley had a gun and “he would use it” if he didn’t get money, according to police.

After the store clerk refused to give Shipley cash, Detective Brad Buchsbaum said Shipley ran away, re-entered his mother’s Jeep and they drove back to her home on Gongaware Road. Police later found the Jeep Wrangler parked outside in the driveway that matched the vehicle used in the failed robbery that occurred just over one mile away.

Buchsbaum said police took Shipley into custody at the home and questioned his mother, who said she had no idea of her son’s alleged actions just over one hour earlier.

Before the trip to the convenience store, Shipley’s mother told investigators that her son had been discussing money with her, according to court documents. She thought it was odd that her son asked her for a covid-19 mask before going into the store because one wasn’t required, according to court documents.

Shipley’s mother, who is not charged, also discovered that her 9 mm handgun was removed from a locked safe without her permission. The handgun was discovered inside Shipley’s coat pocket that police found under his bed in a bedroom, police reported.

Shipley was arraigned Thursday on charges of criminal attempt, escape, robbery, theft and making terroristic threats.

Police allege that Shipley made an unsuccessful attempt to flee Excela Health Westmoreland hospital in Greensburg, where he was taken for medical treatment after his arrest. He was tackled by hospital security guards, police said.

Shipley was ordered held in the county prison without bail pending a preliminary hearing Nov. 16. District Judge Helen Kistler noted in court documents that she refused to set bond for Shipley feeling that he is “a danger to the public.”

In 2017, Shipley, who has also lived in Mt. Pleasant and North Huntingdon, was arrested by North Huntingdon police in a string of pre-Christmas parcel package thefts throughout the township and Irwin. Shipley was arrested after police asked for the public’s assistance identifying a suspect who was captured on home surveillance during one of the thefts.

In 2018, he was sentenced to serve 3 to 23 months in prison after pleading guilty to the thefts.