Keithan Manuel is sitting inside the Dallas County Jail Tuesday night
waiting for someone to believe him –– it was a joke, he told
investigators. He didn’t really want to rob that police station.
Police, however, say the 18-year-old walked into the Wilmer Police
Department Saturday evening with a white towel covering his hands.
Police Chief Victor Kemp described the incident saying, “Yeah well, a
young man walked into the lobby and approached the dispatch window
there and told our Communications Officer ‘give me all your money.’”

After pointing a towel-covered hand at the officer and making the
statement, Manuel soon changed his tune and claimed he was there to get
some information.
“He said he’d like to check on a warrant, but it was pretty obvious
it was a situation … he gave a different name and after a few moments of
maybe playing it off he said ‘you do know I have a gun’. At that point
he seemed to be very serious,” Kemp said.
It was then the officer decided she didn’t feel like ‘joking’.


“She called for officers immediately and called for backup from
another agency,” Kemp recalled. “The officers arrived and were able to
take him down at gunpoint.”
Manuel didn’t have a weapon, but dispatcher Patrice Hughey said he
said otherwise, recalling the teen telling her, “Well, you know I have a
gun, right?”
“I didn’t say nothing like that, I swear to God I didn’t say nothing
like that; that’s why they didn’t find no guns on me,” Manuel said. “Man
I play like that all the time, I didn’t think she would take it
seriously.”
Manuel remains is in the Dallas County Jail with a $200,000 bond for several charges, including Robbery.


“This young man wasn’t using his head for sure,” he said. “You hear
of those World’s Dumbest Criminals every once in a while but you never
think it’s gonna happen in your city.”