photo by: Mugshot courtesy of the KBI Violent Offenders Registry

Katroy D. Jenkins is pictured with the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center.

After witnesses testified about a chaotic scene at a Lawrence gas station, a Lawrence man was ordered to stand trial Thursday in Douglas County District Court for an alleged armed robbery on Iowa Street on New Year’s Eve.

The man, Katroy Dejion Jenkins, 29, faces one felony count of aggravated robbery with a handgun, according to charging documents. The charges relate to an incident around 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 31, 2022, at the Circle K gas station at 2330 Iowa St.

“He went from Jekyll to Hyde,” the Circle K cashier told the court Thursday.

The cashier said that Jenkins was a regular at the gas station, visiting the store about every other day. He said Jenkins, whom he had known for a few months, came in with a friend to buy some cigars on the night of the robbery.

He said that he turned around to get the cigars when he was startled by a loud banging on the counter; he turned back and saw that it was Jenkins demanding money.

“We were all joking around and having a good time, then he started slamming his hands on the counter. I was laughing, then he said, ‘This isn’t a joke. Give me all the money,'” the cashier testified.

Jenkins’ friend immediately put his hands in the air and stepped back, looking surprised, the cashier said. The cashier opened the cash register and saw that Jenkins was pulling out a gun from the waistband of his sweatpants. He said that Jenkins cocked the gun.

“I was getting the money. He pulled the gun from his right side. It was a black gun. I saw him cock it by his side. I don’t remember him pulling it all the way out,” the cashier said.

At that moment a woman came into the store and asked what was going on, to which the cashier said, “He’s robbing me.” Then the cashier gave Jenkins $166 and some change, and Jenkins ran out the door.

The woman testified that she had driven Jenkins and his friend to the store to get a cigar and a soda. She said that she sat in her car while the men went inside, and a few minutes later she saw Jenkins arguing with the cashier and the other man putting his hand up.

The woman then got out of her car, she told the court, and poked her head into the store to ask what was happening. The cashier said that Jenkins was robbing him, and Jenkins yelled at the woman to get out, she testified. The woman went back to her car and locked the door. She said she never saw Jenkins in possession of a gun.

Jenkins came out of the store and tried to get into the car, but the woman kept the doors locked and Jenkins ran off, she testified. She and the other man Jenkins was with then waited for police to arrive.

Jenkins was arrested by Lawrence police around 3 p.m. that day in the 1700 block of East Glenn Drive, according to the Douglas County Jail’s booking log.

Jenkins’ defense attorney, Branden Smith, asked the cashier if he told police after the incident that he was not in fear for his life. The cashier agreed that he did tell an officer that he did not think that he would be killed and that he opened the cash register before he saw that Jenkins had a gun.

After hearing testimony, Judge Amy Hanley ordered Jenkins to stand trial for aggravated robbery on June 12.

Jenkins was on probation at the time of the incident for a 2021 conviction in Douglas County for felony aggravated battery. As the Journal-World reported, he was originally charged with attempted murder in May of 2021 after he allegedly cut a woman with a knife at Burcham Park, which is northwest of downtown Lawrence along the Kansas River. The woman was treated for injuries that were not life threatening, police said at the time.

In that case, Jenkins pleaded no contest to aggravated battery with a knife in June of 2021. Hanley sentenced Jenkins to 18 months in prison, which she suspended to 24 months of probation, in accordance with Kansas sentencing guidelines. Jenkins was also ordered to register as a violent offender for 15 years, according to court records.

Jenkins is currently being held at the Douglas County Jail on a $150,000 cash or surety bond.