By Monique Roth
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — “He didn’t get the memo it was Night Out Against Crime,” St. John Parish Sheriff Mike Tregre quipped as he recounted the details of an armed robbery in LaPlace Tuesday night.

Reginald Smith, 37, of Kenner was arrested in Kenner and is now in custody locally after authorities said he robbed a LaPlace convenience store at gunpoint Tuesday.

The store clerk at Big River Food and Fuel, located at 1173 East Airline Highway, told deputies a male subject wearing a red plaid shirt approached the counter at 4:52 p.m. Tuesday and told her to give him everything out the register.

Authorities said the perpetrator removed a handgun from his front waistband and pointed it at the clerk, who surrendered cash from the register.

The gunman then fled the store in a Pontiac Grand Am, authorities said.

No one was injured.

Kenner Police Department officers stopped a car matching the Pontiac’s description later Tuesday evening at Interstate 10 and Loyola Drive and arrested the driver, identified as Smith.

St. John the Baptist Parish investigators were notified of the arrest.

Smith was transferred to St. John the Baptist Parish Wednesday and booked with armed robbery with the use of a firearm, a fugitive warrant from St. Charles Parish and probation/parole violation.

His bond is set at $75,000.

Tregre said the St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office “got a description of the suspect and car out quickly,” which greatly aided in the quick arrest.

He said crime camera footage helped investigators with suspect and car descriptions.

The armed robbery Tuesday night may be connected to a similar incident at the same store a year ago, Tregre said, where an initial investigation indicates a similar, if not identical, car was used.