A man who repeatedly stabbed an EZ Mart clerk with a screwdriver during a robbery received 45 years in prison Monday.
Oral Sonny Shorter Jr., 20, attacked the clerk Oct. 20 as she was walking out of a freezer at EZ Mart on Texas Blvd. at about 2:30 a.m., according to a probable cause affidavit. Shorter can allegedly be seen on video surveillance footage entering the store and committing the crime.
Shorter shouted, “Give me the money,” when he surprised the clerk, stabbing her in the shoulder with the tool. Shorter yelled, “Give me the money or I’ll kill your ass,” as the clerk attempted to explain that she cannot open the store’s safe. Shorter stabbed the clerk again and began shaking the safe.
Before leaving the store, Shorter stole the clerk’s backpack. Shorter was arrested on a bicycle north of the area transit station at Texas Blvd. and 15th Street.
Shorter told officers he committed the robbery because he was “tired of being broke,” and “it was a way to release his anger,” and he “just wanted a way to get out of Texarkana.”
While being interviewed by detectives later that day, Shorter also admitted to stealing a blue 2018 Ford Escape the day before. Detectives told Shorter he could be seen taking the vehicle the day before in video surveillance footage and pointed out that he was wearing the same shirt and shoes as in the video.
Shorter admitted to having stolen the Escape near Wadley Hospital in Texarkana. Shorter said he parked the car in a lot near Wisdom Animal Clinic on Texas Blvd. and slept in it. The car’s owner said she accidentally left the keys inside because of a heavy rain.
Shorter pleaded guilty Monday at a hearing before 202nd District Judge John Tidwell to aggravated robbery and unauthorized use of a vehicle.
