A Pitcairn man accused of robbing the Monroeville Burger King where he’d been fired a few months earlier now faces federal weapons charges.
Yamin A. Harris, 30, of Pitcairn was arrested Dec. 29, 2024, after police said he returned to the Burger King on Broadway Boulevard — where he worked for a month in the fall of 2024 before being fired — and began shocking employees with a cattle prod while robbing the store, according to court documents.
Two 911 callers reported a man wearing all black had entered the store and begun attacking staff with some type of Taser, according to the police affidavit.
The second caller said the man ran toward the nearby Haymaker Village parking lot carrying the Taser and a garbage bag. Pitcairn police located a vehicle in the parking lot and attempted to make contact with the driver, who then rammed a police car and drove off, according to court records.
Pitcairn and Monroeville police pursued the car, a green Subaru Outback, attempting to deploy spike strips before the car stopped near a wooded area. The driver ran into the the woods and could not be found, according to the affidavit.
During the police search, another 911 call came from a nearby resident, who reported a young Black man had come to her house claiming he was bitten by a dog and asking her to open her door. Police said the woman did not open the door but offered to call 911. She said the man told her not to call, advised her he was “on parole” and left. Police responded to the woman’s house and found blood on the door and porch area.
Shortly afterward, police located the driver — later identified as Harris — on a nearby street and followed him into a building where he was arrested. Harris was wearing the pants and boots described by 911 callers who reported the robbery, which was captured on surveillance footage from the Burger King, Monroeville police said.
A police K-9 assisting in the initial search for Harris also led officers to a black backpack with Harris’s medical marijuana card inside, along with the same black hoodie with a red drawstring seen in the robbery surveillance footage.
Police obtained a search warrant for Harris’ Subaru, where they found a black mask, a cattle prod-style Taser, a 9-millimeter Taurus pistol and a garbage bag with $805 inside.
Federal prosecutors charged Harris with being a felon in possession of a firearm, owing to a 2013 conviction on multiple robbery charges.
In addition to the federal charges, Harris faces an April 21 preliminary hearing in Judge Jeffrey Herbst’s Monroeville district court on the charges related to the robbery.