Federal Jury Finds Plant City Gas Station Robber Guilty

Tampa, FL – United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announces that a federal jury has found Emarjai Walker (29, Plant City) guilty of interference with commerce by robbery and discharging a firearm during a violent felony. Walker faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison. 

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, just before midnight on April 5, 2020, Walker robbed a gas station located at 2911 James Redman Parkway in Plant City. After the clerk opened the register as Walker had demanded, Walker shot the clerk in the face. While his victim was lying on the floor bleeding, Walker fired a second shot which barely missed the clerk’s head. Walker ran from the store leaving the clerk for dead. The victim was discovered by a customer 10 minutes after the shooting. Although Walker was disguised and masked, the clerk’s familiarity of Walker’s mannerisms from previous visits to the store allowed him, from his hospital bed days later, to identify Walker as the shooter. Further investigation revealed that Walker had done extensive media research following the shooting and that he had tried to sell a .38 handgun the next day.

This case was investigated by the Plant City Police Department, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Tampa Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jim Preston and Brooke Padgett.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).