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Robbery suspect wounded

• A critically wounded Tifton hostage-taker has a history of armed robbery, according to court documents.

J.D. Sumner

TIFTON — A man who pulled a gun on a 16-year-old grocery store worker during an attempted robbery Monday night was critically wounded when a police officer shot him in the head, police officials say.

Police Chief Jim Smith said Tuesday that he still doesn’t know what prompted 48-year-old Craig Plymel to casually walk into the Piggly Wiggly grocery store on Tift Avenue, take a hostage and demand money, but he did say that quick thinking by both the clerk and the police officer saved lives.

Smith said that Tifton Police Officer Dorminey McCrae, 34, shot Plymel in the head with his .40-caliber handgun minutes after responding to the call. Plymel was taken to Tift Regional Hospital and later to the Medical Center of Central Georgia, where he was listed Tuesday in critical condition. McCrae has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the GBI’s use-of-force investigation.

No one else was injured.

According to police documents, Plymel walked into the store around 9 p.m., brandished a handgun and took at least one clerk hostage.

“A co-worker dialed 911 while others ushered some of the customers and other employees out the back of the store,” Smith said. “It was thanks to a teamwork mentality that kept anyone from getting hurt.”

It took McCrae and a Tift County sheriff’s deputy less than a minute to get to the store, Smith said.

According to radio transmissions obtained Tuesday by The Herald, Plymel was said to be in the store wearing a mask and a yellow jacket, brandishing a .45-caliber handgun and taking at least one hostage.

As backup units arrived without sirens, McCrae radioed information about the situation to responding officers.

“I’ve got him inside, kill all sirens, kill all sirens,” McCrae whispered over his radio. “... He’s saying he’s not going to hurt her ... he’s talking with the hostage.”

About two minutes later, it was over.

“I just shot him, I just shot him,” McCrae said over his radio.

The hostage, who was identified by police only as a 16-year-old white female, was not injured.

“It could’ve been a major tragedy, but because everyone kept their head, it worked out without anyone except the hostage-taker getting injured,” Smith said.

As a matter of protocol, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was called in Monday night to determine whether McCrae’s use of force was necessary. Agents with the Sylvester office declined to estimate how long that investigation could take.

Smith said that as of Tuesday morning, Plymel had been given a 50/50 chance of survival, but that he was still in critical condition. Attempts to verify that information at the Medical Center of Central Georgia were unsuccessful.

Plymel, whose last known address was at 346 Seminole Drive in Moultrie, was convicted in 1985 for at least four different robberies in the spring and summer of 1984 in Duval County, Fla., court document show.

On April, 22, 1985, he was sentenced to serve 25 years in prison on each of those counts, according to the Florida Department of Corrections Web site.

He was released to Georgia authorities in May 2001.

Since then, Georgia prison system records show that he’s been convicted of at least 10 additional crimes, including possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of marijuana and methamphetamines in Cobb, Douglas and Carroll counties.

He was last released from prison on May 11, 2007, prison system records show.

Smith said that counseling was being made available for McCrae and commended his quick thinking in a tense situation.

“There is no textbook response in real world events like this,” Smith said. “This was one of those situations where an officer had to make a split-second decision and he did, and it saved lives.”

McCrae has been employed twice by the Tifton Police Department for about three years, Smith said.

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