Roderick Derrell King in 2014

One person was arrested early this morning in the fatal shooting of a young customer at a Pleasant Grove restaurant, and after violent holdups at two other restaurants.

The Jefferson County Coroner's Office today identified the victim as Ashton Blake Roberts. He was 21, and from Sumiton.



The Pleasant Grove shooting happened just after 8:30 p.m. Wednesday and 19-year-old Roderick Derrell King was in custody by 2 a.m. Pleasant Grove police Lt. Danny Reid said King was arrested in connection with Wednesday night incidents at Jacks and at Papa Murphy's in Hueytown.

King, of Dolomite, is no stranger to lawmen. He was charged in 2014 after an armed robbery in Hueytown during which there were shots also fired. He was captured after a manhunt in that case, and is currently on probation or parole which authorities said they will now seek to revoke.



Today's arrest was a joint effort, he said, by Pleasant Grove and Hueytown police. Birmingham police helped in the arrest.



Reid say they were able to quickly build a description and put that information out to surrounding law enforcement agencies. That's when Birmingham police spotted him.



Birmingham police spokesman Sgt. Bryan Shelton officers from the city's west and north precincts took King into custody and handed him over to Pleasant Grove and Hueytown. King was captured in the area of Fourth Street and Third Avenue West.



King is also a suspect in the violent robbery at Burger King in Fairfield during which shots were fired. He is being held in the Hueytown City Jail pending formal charges.



The Pleasant Grove shooting happened about 9 p.m. Wednesday inside Jack's on Park Road. The assailant was armed with a long gun, possibly an SKS, and is believed to have also robbed restaurants in Hueytown and Fairfield.



Witnesses said a gunman entered the Pleasant Grove restaurant and ordered everyone inside to get on the floor. One of the customers waiting in line, Roberts, froze and didn't get down on the floor fast enough. That's when he was shot, reportedly in the chest.

The assailant then turned the rifle to the cashier, who was a teenager, and demanded money. He handed over the cash and the gunman fled.

The coroner's office said Roberts was shot at 8:40 p.m. He was pronounced dead on the scene at 9:09 p.m.

"There's no rhyme or reason. There was no struggle. He just got shot,'' Reid said.

Hueytown police Chief Chuck Hagler confirmed the robbery at Papa Murphy's in that city. That holdup happened about 8 p.m. There were no shots fired during that robbery, the chief said.

A robbery happened shortly before that at the Burger King in Fairfield. Police Chief Leon Davis said the gunman, a young black male, entered the restaurant about 7:30 p.m. brandishing his rifle and demanded money from the cashier.

An older man who was a customer inside the Burger King pulled his own gun. The assailant fired four or five shots inside the restaurant but no one was hit. The customer was able to get off one round before the gunman fled.

"We're trying to find that customer because we believe he saved some lives based on what happened after he left here,'' Davis said.

Davis said the description of the suspect in all three robberies is similar. Pleasant Grove police Chief Corky Knight said they had confirmed a link between the Hueytown and Pleasant Grove robberies based on video surveillance tapes being reviewed.

"It's a senseless act and we will work with every resource we have,'' Reid said.

The investigation is ongoing, Reid said, and authorities will meet with the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office to pursue formal charges.

In the 2014 case, King and a 16-year-old were arrested after a Nov. 25 6:30 a.m. holdup at the Burger King on Allison-Bonnett Memorial Drive. The robbers filed several shots in the parking lot.

King was charged in 2014 holdup at Burger King in Hueytown.

Hueytown police, with the help of Birmingham police, Jefferson County deputies and tracking dogs from Donaldson prison, searched for the suspects for about two hours. They were led to a home in Dolomite, where police didn't make any arrests but found the getaway vehicle and all of the stolen money.

Police then announced charges against King in December 2014, and his bond was then set at $250,000. Court records on that case weren't immediateley available.

This is a developing story and more information will be released as it becomes available.

Reporter Jonathan Grass contributed to this story.