Man with head wound arrested in Modesto flower store robbery

A man bleeding from his head – that was the identifying characteristic that linked the suspect in a flower store robbery to an attempted beer theft at a Walmart Neighborhood Market on Wednesday evening.

At 5:34 p.m., an employee of Flowers by HP Papadopoulos in the 1500 block of Coffee Road called 911 to report she’d been robbed.

She told officers a man bleeding from his head demanded money and threatened to shoot her, said Modesto police spokeswoman Heather Graves. The suspect gestured to his waistband but never displayed a handgun.

He took cash from the register and was last seen walking south toward the Walmart Neighborhood Market about a block away.

At 5:41 p.m., dispatch received a call that an intoxicated man bleeding from his head was trying to steal beer from the market.

The officers went to the store, where they apprehended 27-year-old Kevin Dickerson in the parking lot.

Dickerson had more than $200 in cash, consistent with the amount reportedly taken from the flower shop.

He was arrested on suspicion of robbery and making criminal threats. It’s unknown how he suffered the head wound.

This story was originally published July 30, 2015 at 1:25 PM with the headline "Man with head wound arrested in Modesto flower store robbery."