East Texas

By KENNETH DEAN
Staff Writer

Armed with automatic weapons and donning body armor, Tyler SWAT officers along with U.S. Marshals and Lindale police surrounded a home Monday afternoon in north Tyler as they searched for a parolee believed to have robbed two businesses over the weekend.

Authorities at the scene told the Tyler Paper they are looking for 37-year-old Aaron Lamon Muse for robberies at the Family Dollar on U.S. Highway 69 in Lindale and the Super Food Mart at 680 W. Broad St. on Friday night.

While gathering an evidence kit out of his unmarked police car, Lindale Sgt. Chad McElyea said Muse is believed to have robbed the Family Dollar about 8 p.m. Friday and then fled the area.

“We think he hit the place in Mineola about an hour after the robbery in Lindale,” he said.

McElyea said there is a $1,000 reward for information about Muse’s location.
Capt. Joyce Box of the Mineola Police Department said during the robbery in her city, the suspect, wearing a black ski mask and a dark jacket, allegedly fired a shot from a silver handgun at one of the victims. However, no one was injured.

Capt. Box said during the robbery the suspect walked to the door and told an approaching customer to leave.

She said moments prior to the robbery, a Mineola officer noticed a car that was sitting abandoned a short distance from the store, and he ran the license plate as part of normal procedure.

After the robbery, the officer remembered the vehicle and went back to the location.
“During the investigation, evidence was located near where the suspicious vehicle had been parked, which linked our robbery to a robbery in Lindale. … The suspicious vehicle came back to a Tyler resident,” she said.

The resident was Muse, Capt. Box said.

“We now have a warrant for him for aggravated robbery,” she said.

At the scene one of the U.S. deputy marshals was heard asking a man at the residence if he knew where Muse was staying.

“Do you know that he tried to kill someone?” the marshal asked the man.
Muse is on parole for an aggravated robbery in 1988.

Tyler Police Sgt. Rusty Jacks said shortly after the robberies, his department was called to see if they could locate Muse at his listed residence in the 2400 block of North Englewood Avenue.

“When we came over here the other night, he fled from our officers. We have a warrant out for evading and then there are the robbery warrants,” he said.

Anyone with information about Muse’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Tyler Police Department at 903-531-1000, the Tyler/Smith County Crime Stoppers at 903-597-2833 or any local law enforcement agency.

Updated Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009 at 8:34 a.m. CST

Members of the Tyler PD tactical stand down after a search warrant was served at the at the residence where they traced aggravated robbery suspect Aaron Lamon Museon Monday January 5, 2009.
(Staff Photo By Jaime R. Carrero)