Hoover teens with BB gun replica assault rifle charged with pizza delivery robbery

Hoover police this week arrested two Hoover 16-year-old boys and charged them with first-degree robbery in connection with the robbery of a pizza delivery driver at a Hoover apartment complex.

The incident happened at 12:49 p.m. Monday, when a Hungry Howie's pizza delivery driver was walking back to his car after making a delivery in the 800 block of Rime Village Drive in The Park at Hoover apartment complex, Hoover police Lt. Keith Czeskleba said.

The delivery man told police two males, one of whom was holding an assault rifle, demanded money from him, so he gave them the $15 he had, Czeskleba said. The suspects left, and the victim called 911.

While canvassing the area, police found two males in the 1600 block of Gardens Place who matched the description given by the victim and found a BB gun replica of an assault rifle in a backpack owned by one of the males.

Police took Christopher Deon Walton and An’Ton Je’horma Lewis, both 16 years old and of Hoover, into custody, and both confessed to robbing the victim, Czeskleba said. Police did not recover any money from the suspects, he said.

Both were charged with robbery as adults and taken to the Jefferson County jail with bonds set at $11,000.

"It was an incredibly dangerous activity for a very small result, as far as what they got," Czeskleba said.

While the gun turned out to be a BB gun, the pizza delivery man didn't know that, nor would anyone else who had the gun pulled on them in a robbery, Czeskleba said. "It certainly could have had a very tragic ending for the suspects involved and for the victim as well," he said.

Police ask anyone with information about this case to call Detective Drew Mims at 205-739-7274. People who wish to remain anonymous and qualify for a cash reward can call Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama at 205-254-7777.