Regional Digest

PRINCE GEORGE'S

Gas station worker is shot in robbery

A gas station employee in Cheverly was shot and wounded Wednesday during an armed robbery, police said.

Just before 11 a.m., someone entered the Exxon store at 5806 Landover Rd. in an apparent attempt to rob it, said Officer Henry Tippett, a spokesman for Prince George's County police. The robber shot an employee and fled, Tippett said.

The specifics of what happened remain unclear, and police had no information about the assailant because detectives had not talked to the employee, who suffered wounds that were not thought to be life-threatening, Tippett said. No one else was in the store at the time of the shooting, and detectives are seeking surveillance footage, he said.

-- Matt Zapotosky

THE DISTRICT

Man guilty of threat to prosecutor, son

A 45-year-old District man has pleaded guilty to threatening the life of a federal prosecutor, according to court records and trial testimony.

Darryl Tipps and a co-defendant, Wayne W. Pannell, 47, were charged with threatening Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah Sines and threatening to kidnap her son. A jury convicted Pannell of all charges Oct. 7. Tipps pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors and testified against Pannell at his trial this month, according to court records.

During his testimony, Tipps disclosed that he had pleaded guilty to threatening to injure or kidnap a person and to obstructing justice in the case, according to lawyers and others who attended the trial.

Further details about Tipps's plea deal could not be learned because the agreement and supporting documents are sealed. Court papers filed by Pannell's attorney disclosed the secret agreement but did not specify the charges. Pannell is scheduled to be sentenced in January. It is not known whether a sentencing date for Tipps has been set. At the time of Pannell's conviction, the status of Tipps's case was not clear.