Investigators have arrested a man who they say robbed and shot a Holt business owner last week.

Jadarius Donnell Jennings, 20, is accused of firing shots that injured Jeremias Tecpile, the owner of Tienda Ast-Ver on Crescent Ridge Road in Holt.

Tecpile walked out of his mobile home on the same property as his business and saw a masked robber fleeing the store with a cash register on Nov. 12, investigators said.

Tecpile fired a shot at the robber, who returned fire. Tecpile is still recovering from several internal injuries.

Investigators searched Jennings’ home Monday and eventually arrested him. He is charged with attempted murder and first-degree robbery and was being held on $120,000 bond.
Tecpile is from Veracruz, Mexico and has lived in Tuscaloosa for about 12 years.

Witnesses from the nearby Dollar General told officers that the suspect had limped from the store, which led them to believe he may have been shot.

He had not been shot by Tecpile, but he does have a limp from a gunshot wound, Baker said. Investigators spoke to Jennings on Oct. 10, when he sought treatment for a gunshot wound at DCH Regional Medical Center. He told officers that he had shot himself in the foot.

Investigators recovered the mask they believe that the robber used in a nearby drainage culvert, Baker said.

Court records indicate that Jennings served six months in jail after pleading guilty to third-degree robbery. A first-degree theft charge was dropped as part of the plea agreement. He was sentenced to serve three years of supervised probation, which began in June.