Deputies: 16-year-old attempted robbery suspect found with eight stolen guns

MARION COUNTY, Fla. — A day before his 16th birthday, Charles Sharpin tried to rob a man outside a Dollar General, Marion County Sheriff’s Office detectives said.

Sharpin approached the victim, Russell Hassell, at the store on South U.S. Highway 441 in Summerfield on Nov. 8 and tried to rob him at gunpoint, detectives said.

Hassell told deputies that he had pulled into the parking lot earlier in the day and had saw Shaprin standing near the corner of the building.

Hassell said he went into the store to buy some items and when he went outside, Sharpin had a camouflage bandana on his face and was holding a gun. Hassell then ran back into the store, deputies said.

Deputies happened to be watching the store and ran after Sharpin, but he wasn’t located until the next night, when a K-9 unit tracked him back to his house, where he was arrested.

In his bedroom, detectives found eight stolen firearms, suspicious masks and holsters, deputies said.

Deputies said they believe Sharpin is connected with other strong-arm robberies and armed residential burglaries, but they did not specify if he’s involved in any of the 11 Dollar General robberies that have occurred in Marion County in the past couple of months.

Cox Media Group