Police: Teen robs pizza, beer from Lynden deli, gets Tased

A Lynden teenager faces robbery charges for threatening to slit a store clerk’s throat if she made him pay for the pizza he’d just eaten Saturday afternoon, Oct. 17, according to police.

Jonah-Lee Daniel Wilson, 19, ate a couple slices of pizza from the Whatcom Farmers Co-op convenience store deli around 3:30 p.m., but his credit got denied when he swiped his card, said Lynden Police Chief Jack Foster.

Wilson threatened to cut a clerk’s throat if he had to pay, police said. The young man grabbed a blue can of Bud Light and an air freshener, then walked outside. The clerk and a coworker — ages 30 and 59 — locked the front and back doors so he couldn’t get back in.

Moments later two Lynden police officers spotted Wilson outside the store. Police ordered him to stop but he continued to walk as if he did not hear them, Foster said. One of the officers eventually fired a Taser at Wilson.

Officers found Wilson was carrying a small box-cutter knife, but he never brandished or showed it, Foster said. He was taken into custody on suspicion of robbery in the first degree, minor in possession of alcohol and obstructing law enforcement.

The police department reviews all incidents where officers use force, such as a Taser or gun, to determine if it was justified.

Wilson also had a Bellingham warrant for his arrest on a felony charge of assaulting a health care worker at St. Joseph hospital around 1:40 a.m. Sept. 27.

Court records show Wilson has never been convicted of a felony in Washington state.

This story was originally published October 19, 2015 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Police: Teen robs pizza, beer from Lynden deli, gets Tased."