MCSO: Man followed home from gas station, robbed

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - Billy Self said around 2 p.m. Sunday he stopped at the Murphy USA gas station in Pascagoula, Miss. Little did he know eyes were watching his wallet. The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office said two suspects, Joseph Desmond Abston II and Cureon Marquez Pickens, followed Self from the gas station to his home in Grand Bay.

Self said he hadn't been home but six minutes when his wife Barbra heard a knock on the back door. She said she opened the door and found a man asking for her husband.

“I go outside. He said, ‘I live right down the road but my puppy got out in your yard in the back. Mind if I go look?’ I say, ‘No, go ahead and see if you can find him,’” said Self.

He and one the suspects walked through the back yard looking for the dog. When the pup was nowhere to be found, Self said he turned back toward the house and thought the man was leaving. That's when he said one of the suspects robbed him.

“He walked up to me he said ‘give me your money’. I said I'm not going to give you ****.  Barbara comes to the door and I said, 'Barbara get my gun, he's robbing me,'” said Self.

Barbara said she retrieved the gun for her husband but it wasn’t loaded. She said giving him and unloaded gun while he was being robbed was terrifying for her.

Self said while Barbara was inside, the suspect took out a knife and said, “Man, I’m going to cut your guts out if you don’t give me the money.’

Self said he took his wallet out of his back pocket and switched it between his left and right hand keeping his eyes locked on the suspect’s face. When the suspect looked down, Self said he threw the wallet into his face.  

He said the suspect seemed dazed by the action and Self saw it as a chance to get away.

“I turned to the house and I got my gun. I reached and picked up my gun, cocked it and he took off running,” said Self. “He jumped over a ditch, got in a car and sped away but it’s a dead end so they had to come back around.”

Self said his neighbor Matthew Hulcher was pulling up and saw the suspects fleeing.

“My neighbor comes down and I told him stop he just robbed me! They (the suspects) come back down the street so we got in the car and followed him,” said Self.

At one point, Self said the suspects pulled over, and threw the money out of the car.

“They said here’s your money back leave us alone. I said, 'Man, it ain't about the money, it’s about you now.' We followed them chased them all over Grand Bay,” he said.

With 911 on the phone, Self and his neighbor chased the suspects into Jackson County, Mississippi.

Deputies eventually caught up with Joseph Abston and Cureon Pickens on Interstate 10.

As of Tuesday, October 23 both suspects were in the Jackson County Jail awaiting extradition to Mobile.