PETERSBURG, Va. -- Marlow Jones is a state fire marshal who normally wears a badge and carries a gun.
He says that he's grateful he left that gun at home Tuesday night because if he hadn't, he can only shudder to think what would've happened to the young man who pointed a gun at him at a Crater Road gas station.
Surveillance video shows a horrifying half-second when a man pacing at the gas pumps at the Shell station runs up to Jones as he's talking to his brother and points his gun at close range.
"As I was running across, I said, ‘Lord, please let me live,’ and I could hear my brother saying, ‘Man, don't shoot me',” said Jones. “So when I turned around I saw the guy in my vehicle and he was taking stuff to include my badge."
The man would take off in this white car with a female getaway driver.
"The girl, I could hear her say, ‘I didn't know he was going to do that,’” said Jones. “’I didn't have nothing to do with it', and I'm like, ‘You’re speeding off with him in the car?’ I'm not gonna rest until they lock her up, too. I mean my family could've been planning a funeral today."
Jones says the suspect must have looked at his screensaver and saw the uniform and badge photo because he quickly dumped his cell phones in a city trash can.
Petersburg Police have arrested and charged 27-year-old Demarco Ford.
Jones says it's a blessing he didn't bring his gun or his teenage daughter with him.
"It taught me never to leave the house unprotected, even if I’m just going to get ice cream," Jones said.
Crime Insider sources tell me investigators will meet with the Commonwealth’s attorney to bring charges against the female driver.
