HAMPDEN TWP.
Man, 19, charged in attack on clerk
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
BY FRANK COZZOLI
Of The Patriot-News
Latif Meholli showed up eventually at the Hampden Twp. police station Sunday night, but first he tried to kill the convenience store clerk he had tried to rob the night before, prosecutors claim.
By the time police were done interviewing the 19-year-old Shiremanstown man, he had admitted trying to rob the Exxon Station at 4600 Carlisle Pike on Saturday night, and returning Sunday night and attacking the same clerk with a knife, arrest documents state.
Meholli told police that when he went back at 9:25 p.m. Sunday, he told the clerk: "Hey, I'm back." Then he stabbed Muhammad Aslam numerous times in an attack captured on the store's surveillance cameras, police said.
Cumberland County Senior Assistant District Attorney David Freed called the attack vicious.
"He was stabbed in the abdomen, the chest, and [had] a large cut on his cheek," Freed said.
In fact, the wound to Aslam's face stretches from his mouth to behind one ear, arrest documents state. Aslam, 58, was flown to Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, where he was in fair condition yesterday, officials said.
Meholli, of the 400 block of West Main Street, was arraigned yesterday before District Judge Gayle Elder and placed in Cumberland County Prison without bail.
Police have charged him with attempted homicide, aggravated assault and robbery.
Police said Meholli went to the Exxon station at 10:10 p.m. Saturday with a piece of cloth across his face. He handed Aslam a plastic bag and said: "Put the money in the bag or I will kill you," arrest documents state.
Aslam said he had no money, threw the bag at Meholli and ran outside
A customer who had just left the store followed Meholli and copied the license number on the car he was driving, a burgundy 1995 Dodge Intrepid registered to his father, court records state.
By Sunday night, Meholli knew police were on his trail.
At 6:15 p.m. Hampden Twp. Cpl. Kevin Shaughnessy, who works part time for Shiremanstown police, reported finding the car parked in the borough.
Shaughnessy talked to Meholli and told him to go to the Hampden Twp. station at 10 p.m. to talk to Cpl. Gary Bonner.
"There wasn't enough to arrest him at that point, but he certainly had been identified as a suspect," Freed said.
Instead of going to talk to police, Freed said, Meholli went back to the Exxon station to try and "take out the witness."
He walked into the store at 9:25 p.m.
"He comes right in the door and starts stabbing him," Hampden police Chief Michael Andreoli said.
Afterward, Andreoli said, Meholli walked out a side door and slammed the large folding-style knife to the pavement.
It was found near the gas pumps on the east side of the building, arrest records state.
Shaughnessy identified Meholli as the attacker after he viewed footage from the store's surveillance cameras, police said.
By 11:30 p.m., Meholli was in custody.
Patrol Officer Cate Holley came across him in the parking lot of the police station and asked why he was there.
Police said Meholli identified himself and told her he had just stabbed the guy at the Exxon station, arrest documents state.
During a subsequent interview with Shaughnessy, Meholli said he doesn't like "snitches" and was mad that the clerk had called police after the Saturday night incident.
He also told Shaughnessy he was upset because he didn't get any money, the documents state.
FRANK COZZOLI: 975-9797 or [email protected]
Man, 19, charged in attack on clerk
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
BY FRANK COZZOLI
Of The Patriot-News
Latif Meholli showed up eventually at the Hampden Twp. police station Sunday night, but first he tried to kill the convenience store clerk he had tried to rob the night before, prosecutors claim.
By the time police were done interviewing the 19-year-old Shiremanstown man, he had admitted trying to rob the Exxon Station at 4600 Carlisle Pike on Saturday night, and returning Sunday night and attacking the same clerk with a knife, arrest documents state.
Meholli told police that when he went back at 9:25 p.m. Sunday, he told the clerk: "Hey, I'm back." Then he stabbed Muhammad Aslam numerous times in an attack captured on the store's surveillance cameras, police said.
Cumberland County Senior Assistant District Attorney David Freed called the attack vicious.
"He was stabbed in the abdomen, the chest, and [had] a large cut on his cheek," Freed said.
In fact, the wound to Aslam's face stretches from his mouth to behind one ear, arrest documents state. Aslam, 58, was flown to Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, where he was in fair condition yesterday, officials said.
Meholli, of the 400 block of West Main Street, was arraigned yesterday before District Judge Gayle Elder and placed in Cumberland County Prison without bail.
Police have charged him with attempted homicide, aggravated assault and robbery.
Police said Meholli went to the Exxon station at 10:10 p.m. Saturday with a piece of cloth across his face. He handed Aslam a plastic bag and said: "Put the money in the bag or I will kill you," arrest documents state.
Aslam said he had no money, threw the bag at Meholli and ran outside
A customer who had just left the store followed Meholli and copied the license number on the car he was driving, a burgundy 1995 Dodge Intrepid registered to his father, court records state.
By Sunday night, Meholli knew police were on his trail.
At 6:15 p.m. Hampden Twp. Cpl. Kevin Shaughnessy, who works part time for Shiremanstown police, reported finding the car parked in the borough.
Shaughnessy talked to Meholli and told him to go to the Hampden Twp. station at 10 p.m. to talk to Cpl. Gary Bonner.
"There wasn't enough to arrest him at that point, but he certainly had been identified as a suspect," Freed said.
Instead of going to talk to police, Freed said, Meholli went back to the Exxon station to try and "take out the witness."
He walked into the store at 9:25 p.m.
"He comes right in the door and starts stabbing him," Hampden police Chief Michael Andreoli said.
Afterward, Andreoli said, Meholli walked out a side door and slammed the large folding-style knife to the pavement.
It was found near the gas pumps on the east side of the building, arrest records state.
Shaughnessy identified Meholli as the attacker after he viewed footage from the store's surveillance cameras, police said.
By 11:30 p.m., Meholli was in custody.
Patrol Officer Cate Holley came across him in the parking lot of the police station and asked why he was there.
Police said Meholli identified himself and told her he had just stabbed the guy at the Exxon station, arrest documents state.
During a subsequent interview with Shaughnessy, Meholli said he doesn't like "snitches" and was mad that the clerk had called police after the Saturday night incident.
He also told Shaughnessy he was upset because he didn't get any money, the documents state.
FRANK COZZOLI: 975-9797 or [email protected]
