Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
GARFIELD — A 27-year-old registered sex offender was arrested after he tried to rob a tobacco shop at gunpoint on Thursday night and was shot in the leg by a retired New York City police detective who worked at the store, according to authorities.
A robbery suspect was shot at Tobacco Road in Garfield on Thursday.
Louis Pizzi, whose last known address was in Hasbrouck Heights, wore a mask when he entered Tobacco Road at 320 River Drive, and pointed a handgun at the store’s owner and his wife, Gurbir S. Grewal, the acting Bergen County prosecutor, said in a news release.
Grewal said store employee, a retired detective, told police that Pizzi announced: “This is a robbery!” The former officer, who called police to report the incident, then tried to disarm the man but was pushed to the ground during the altercation, Grewal said.
The former officer was armed with a handgun and fired one shot at suspect, striking him in the left leg, Grewal said. Authorities did not identify the former officer. Grewal said the store owner’s son also was in the store at the time of the incident.
Pizzi fled on foot but was later arrested near railroad tracks a short distance from Garfield’s police headquarters, Grewal said. Garfield police found a handgun that they believe Pizzi used in the robbery attempt and several items of clothing that Pizzi appeared to have discarded after he fled the store, Grewal said.
The state police sex offense registry lists Pizzi as being homeless and staying in Garfield. It says he was convicted of aggravated sexual assault, and that his victims were two girls who were juveniles.
Authorities charged Pizzi in connection with Thursday’s incident with first-degree armed robbery; second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose; third-degree unlawful possession of a weapon; and a fourth-degree offense for not being allowed to have a weapon, Grewal said.
Pizzi was being held on Friday in lieu of $500,000 bail after being turned over to the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office, Grewal said.