Katy man charged with robbing business, attacking elderly employee

A Katy man was arrested early Wednesday as Harris County Sheriff's Office deputies investigated a robbery in Northwest Houston.

Timothy Demarre'a Lewis, 18, of the 18300 block of Flynt Hill Drive, is charged with aggravated robbery.

Deputies were called to a business in the 1700 block of West Little York Road just after midnight Wednesday, says HCSO spokesperson Tebben Lewis. "The complainant [a 72-year-old man], stated that at approximately [11:50 p.m.], the defendant came into the business, and approached the front counter," Tebben Lewis says. "The defendant had his hand in his pocket as if he had a gun, and stated, 'Open the register, or I will kill you.'"

When the employee told the suspect that the register was closed and he couldn't open it, the suspect then came around the front counter and pushed the man to the floor. The defendant tried and failed to open the register and the safe, and fled to a nearby wooded area, Tebben Lewis says.

Deputies set up a perimeter in the area and brought out a police dog to help search for the suspect. "A Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper then observed a man matching the suspect description exit the wooded area, and the trooper detained the suspect and brought him back to the scene," Tebben Lewis says.

Online jail records indicate that Timothy Demarre'a Lewis is being held on $30,000 bond on the robbery charge.