Police: man who robbed store had toddler with him

ST. PETERSBURG (FOX13) - Police say Edward Melendez robbed a St. Pete convenience story Thursday afternoon.  

While he was allegedly doing that, police say his 18-month-old daughter was along for the ride in the car.

"It's very bad when you're a parent you have responsibility for your kid," said Jitendra Shamra, the store's owner.

It happened just before 2:00 p.m. Thursday.  Jitendra Sharma's wife was working the register when Melendez allegedly walked in wearing a mask and waving a gun.

"Right now she's ok. It's been a couple hours, she's very shaky, she's very stressful," Sharma said.

He didn't get far.   A witness next door gave police a good description and officers caught up to him within minutes.  

"Literally between the time we got the first call and stopped him, it was 5 minutes," said St. Petersburg police spokesperson Yolanda Fernandez.

"When we stopped him, he had the mask, a gun and an 18-month-old girl in the car with him," she said.

Because of that, not only is Melendez facing serious armed robbery and weapons charges, he's also looking at child endangerment charges as well.