NORRISTOWN – A suspect has been arrested in connection with a pair of shootings that occurred in East Norriton and Norristown in April and May.
Andrew Lamar Cooper, 25, of Norristown has been charged with shooting a man in the leg on the 500 block of Cherry Street May 25. Cooper has also been charged in the shooting of a clerk while committing an armed robbery with four accomplices at the Sunoco gas station/A Plus mini market at 15 East Germantown Pike April 30. Both victims survived.
Cooper’s arrest came after he was picked up by Norristown police for a weapons violation on May 27. East Norriton authorities filed charges on May 30 after Cooper allegedly admitted, under questioning, to being the triggerman in the convenience store robbery.
He is facing multiple counts of aggravated and simple assault, along with a host of other charges including robbery, false imprisonment, receiving stolen property and reckless endangerment.
Surveillance video from the East Norriton gas station robbery showed five masked men in dark clothing wearing gloves enter the store. The suspects then overpowered the clerk and tied his hands with orange zip ties. After failing several times to gain access to the locked cash register, the suspects stole several cartons of cigarettes and a lone gunman, donning a multicolored backpack, fired a gun, believed to be a revolver, striking the clerk in the upper right leg before fleeing.
On April 30, officers from Plymouth Township contacted East Norriton police to inform them that on their way back from a DUI call at Mercy Suburban hospital, they witnessed a dark green Honda Accord entering the Sunoco parking lot less than a half hour before the armed robbery and shooting were reported.
The following day, Norristown police responding to a shots fired call near West Marshall and Swede streets were informed that a dark green Honda, similar to the one described by Plymouth police, was involved in the incident. A short time later, investigators found the vehicle and began to inspect it for evidence related to the shooting. A records check revealed that the vehicle was listed as stolen out of West Norriton. Inside they found a multi-colored backpack, orange zip ties, a dark colored jacket and a black knit glove. The owner of the vehicle consented to forensic processing and additional evidence was collected.
Investigators from all four jurisdictions determined that the green Honda witnessed by Plymouth police was the same one stolen from West Norriton, impounded by Norristown police and used in the commission of the East Norriton armed robbery.
On May 27, at 8:45 a.m., Norristown police on routine patrol in the 100 block of Wayne Avenue noticed a gold Honda CR-V parked with two male occupants. An officer ran the license plate which revealed that the vehicle was stolen out of Plymouth Meeting. The two men entered a house on the street as police continued surveillance.
The two men emerged from the home, re-entered the CR-V and pulled away. Police, who had now identified the passenger as Cooper, a subject in another investigation, followed the vehicle until it abruptly stopped near the intersection of Spruce and Powell streets. Cooper and the driver exited the vehicle and were ordered to get on the ground by the pursuing officer.
Cooper refused to comply and fled on foot. After a foot chase that wound West on Spruce Street then north through an alley on the 1100 block of Swede and across back yards to Spring Alley, Cooper was apprehended by an assisting officer near a breezeway in the first block of West Basin Street.
Police issued a search warrant for Cooper’s residence on Wayne Avenue and found a loaded Smith and Wesson .40 caliber handgun that was reported stolen from a vehicle in West Norriton. A background check on Cooper revealed a previous conviction for robbery and criminal conspiracy which precluded him from possessing a firearm.
Detectives questioned Cooper at the Norristown police station and he admitted to participating in the Sunoco robbery and firing the shot that struck the clerk. When asked by police why he shot the clerk, Cooper allegedly said that he was antsy to get out of the store and his adrenaline was pumping. He then allegedly stated that he decided to make a break for it and the gun went off. The identities of his accomplices remain unknown.
Additional evidence compiled by detectives led to Cooper being charged in the Cherry Street shooting.
