Tip Helps Snare Armed Robbery Suspect

A preliminary examination was scheduled this morning for a 42-year-old Farmington Hills man charged in connection with .

Judge Marla Parker scheduled Darnell McMiddleton's preliminary exam for 9 a.m. Dec. 10. He remains in custody.

McMiddleton was arrested Tuesday after trying to leave a 7-Eleven convenience store at Middlebelt and 12 Mile roads, Investigative Division Commander David Stasch said. The robbery occurred about 12:25 a.m. Tuesday at a Mobil gas station at Orchard Lake and 12 Mile roads.

"A citizen called in a suspicious vehicle in the area," Stasch said. "Officers went out to investigate it at approximately the same time (as the robbery occurred)."

That vehicle was the suspect's getaway car, Stasch said, and because it was tied up by the officers, McMiddleton took off on foot. Officers tracked him for more than two hours and found him in a restroom when they arrived at the 7-Eleven. Although he tried to run, officers took him into custody, Stasch said. 

A gun, rubber mask and hooded sweatshirt were found hidden in the bushes at , located across the street from the 7-Eleven, Stasch said.

The store clerk at the Shell station where the robbery occurred told police a 30- t0 35-year-old man wearing a light-colored or white hooded jacket walked up to the store counter about 12:25 a.m. Tuesday with the jacket hood pulled over his head. The clerk said the suspect brandished a silver, semi-automatic weapon and demanded money, then reached over the side of the counter to search for an alarm button.

Meanwhile, the clerk said he gathered money from the register – approximately $100-$200 – and gave it to the suspect, who then fled the scene.

McMiddleton was released on parole Nov. 4, 2010, according to the state of Michigan's offender tracking website. He had been sentenced to a maximum of 15 years in 1991 on manslaughter and felony firearms charges and served time on 1986 convictions of escape from prison and carrying a concealed weapon.

Correction: The location of the robbery was incorrectly reported in the original version of this story. It occurred at the Mobil station at 12 Mile and Orchard Lake Rds.