Police: Roxbury man robs Randolph store for second time, drives back to Boston, gets shot at

Randolph Police report arresting Mark Stokes, 51, of Roxbury, on charges he held up the same convenience store at gunpoint on April 1 and April 12.

After the second robbery, police say, Stokes was himself shot at in his car after he returned back to Roxbury.

Stokes was caught in part because when he tried to open the cash register at the Seasons Market on North Main Street around 2 a.m. on Friday, he inadvertently hit the button to turn off the gas pumps outside - leaving behind fingerprints that, along with other evidence, led Randolph and Boston Police to him, police say.

According to police, Stokes first robbed the store around 9:44 p.m. on April 1, getting away with cash and Newport cigarettes after pointing a gun at a clerk.

Then on Friday, April 12 at 2:20 a.m., the market/gas station was robbed again. This time, a similar looking suspect entered the store while the clerk was outside. The suspect tried to open the cash registered, but inadvertently turned off the gas pumps. The clerk entered the store, and the suspect pointed a gun at him and demanded the clerk open the register. The suspect fled both robberies with cash and Newport cigarettes.

The suspect, however, left his fingerprint on the button to shut off the pumps. ...

Randolph Police soon learned that Stokes himself was the victim of an assault and a battery in Boston less than two hours after the robbery, in which his vehicle was shot multiple times.

Randolph Police did not provide further details on the Roxbury attack on Stokes, who, they said, "was known" to police. However, the timing matches that of an arrest reported by Boston Police of a 60-year-old man on charges he fired a gun repeatedly in the area of Charlame Street in Roxbury.

Randolph Police add that when officers searched Stokes's car, they found the apparent weapon he used in the robberies - a black pellet gun with a bore that had been widened to make it appear more realistic. Police add that, after obtaining a search warrant, detectives found clothing in Stokes's apartment that matched that describe by convenence-store witnesses. Also allegedly matching Stokes to the robber: A witness description of the car used in the second robbery and surveillance video from the hotel police say he initially ducked into.

Stokes is scheduled for arraignment in Quincy District Court next week. He is being held at the Randolph police station in lieu of $15,000 bail.

Innocent, etc.