Perry

Two female employees of the Sheetz gas station and convenience store in Shepherdstown were taken to Jefferson Memorial Hospital Monday morning after they were attacked by a man attempting to steal cigars from behind a register.

The alleged assailant, 31-year-old Masaki Dupree Perry, of Shepherdstown, was detained just minutes after fleeing the store by a Shepherdstown City Police officer.

Perry, of Windgale Drive, has since been charged with armed robbery, police said. Monday evening he remained in custody at the Eastern Regional Jail on a $100,000 bail.

According to court records, at about 1:07 a.m. Monday, Cpl. Vincent Tiong of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department was dispatched to a possible assault in progress at the Shepherdstown Sheetz located on Martinsburg Pike.

The suspect was described as a black male wearing a black jacket and black denim pants. The suspect was last seen leaving the store and walking toward the Shepherdstown city limits. Minutes later, Patrolman Jack Fleagle of the Shepherdstown City Police Department stopped Perry, who matched the description of the suspect, on Duke Street near the intersection of West Campus Drive.

Perry was detained until Tiong could review the security tapes from the Sheetz store. When Tiong arrived at the store, he spoke with the two victims. One of the victims said that she heard the front door open and, as she walked to the front register, she saw a man standing behind the register in front of the cigar aisle.

She then confronted the man and asked him what he was doing.

“What are you going to do about it?” he said, according to the victim’s statement.

He then approached the employee and struck her in the face with his fist. The woman also said the man struck her co-worker during the altercation.

A review of the security tapes verified the victims’ statements The footage showed a man immediately entering the store and walking behind the registers. The man then crouched down and attempted to remove cigars from a display in the cigar aisle. When one of the employees noticed the man behind the counter, he walked over to her and struck her in the face with his fist. The employee then fell to the ground and was attempting to get away when the man approached her again and repeatedly struck her in the face with both of his fists. The other store employee then attempted to separate them, but the man repeatedly struck her in the face.

The man then left the store and removed the black jacket he was wearing. Perry matched the description of the man caught on security cameras during the attack, police said.

Both victims were then transported to Jefferson Memorial Hospital to be evaluated for the injuries they sustained in the assault. While at the hospital, written statements and pictures were obtained from both victims. The pictures show contusions and abrasions on the heads of both victims. One of the victims also sustained apparent injuries to her back and neck, records show.

Perry was taken to Eastern Regional Jail and later arraigned. If convicted he faces no less than 10 years in prison.