Liquor heist ends in bathroom barricade

Maricopa police arrested a 24-year-old man who they say barricaded himself inside a bathroom after shoplifting nearly $200 in alcohol. 

Officers responded to a call of a drunk man locked inside a Jersey Mike’s bathroom around 5 p.m. Tuesday. Workers told police the man refused to leave after being asked multiple times.  

When police finally forced entry into the bathroom, they found Jamel Burns passed out on the toilet seat with an open bottle of gin and a backpack full of alcohol bottles near him. 

Officers learned the alcohol was stolen from the nearby CVS store earlier that day. Surveillance footage showed Burns hiding nearly $200 worth of liquor bottles in his backpack, then booking it toward the sub shop.  

Burns was arrested and booked into the Pinal County Jail on charges of shoplifting and criminal trespassing. He could face up to 16 years in prison due to a history of shoplifting.